I Used to Know Him
by An-Jelly-Ca
Summary: I never thought I'd do this to the brothers, alas, I am easily bought. And so prepare for angst the likes of which you've never seen from me before. Click the link and read, I don't want to spoil the suprise. Chapter 45 Up! Complete!
1. Remembrance of a Brother

**A/N I never thought I'd do this to them. But I did it. I blame Jason. HE made me do it...okay so he actually bribed me...with ten updates...so, it was kind of worth it. Yes, I'm easily bought. **

**Thanks in advance to all those who review, and thanks to TSR for betaing. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

It was far more then just stone; the slab of marble was a symbol of everything that was wrong in his life. As he sat there kneeling with his head against the surface of the marble Joe Hardy cursed everyone and everything in his life. Tears coursed down his cheeks but he took no notice of them, nothing mattered anymore. It had been a year since that fateful night but the details were seared into his mind's eyes as though it had been only yesterday but for all Joe knew it could have been yesterday, he had long since lost track of what day it was. A sob racked his body as he traced over the writing on the tombstone:

_Franklin Matthew Hardy_

_December 18__th__ 1984- January 10__th__ 2006_

_Beloved Son, Brother, and Friend_

His brother was dead and the world seemed less bright for it. Joe Hardy had been used to pain he had experienced it worse then he ever thought possible when his girlfriend Iola died but he had gotten through it because his brother had been at his side, but then it had been Frank who was dead; Frank who was lying there in front of them cold and motionless. And Joe couldn't get past that; there was no way to get past it. Frank had been his support system and without his older brother it was as though the bottom had dropped out from his safe little world.

Frank Hardy had just turned twenty-one when he died, it was his last year in college and his whole life had been ahead of him. Joe took a swig from the bottle of scotch he held in his hand. The words on the headstone blurred slightly and he wasn't sure if it was the fact that he was half-drunk or if it was his tears that had caused it. Sometimes for the briefest of blissful moments he forgot his brother was dead and the world seemed bright again, but then it all came crashing back with painful clarity. Frank Matthew Hardy was dead and it was all his fault. Joe took a larger gulp of the scotch and coughed slightly. "Here's to you big brother." He said raising the bottle as if in a toast. The words ended in a sob.

If someone had walked up to Joe a year ago and told him that his brother was going to do something stupid and get himself killed he would have laughed in the person's face. That just didn't happen to logical clear thinking people like Frank. Joe wiped the snow off the top of the grave marker and let his hand rest there. "I'm sorry, so sorry, I failed you." The blond pushed himself up from the snow covered ground and stood for a moment blinking down at the marble slab before he turned and walked albeit somewhat unsteadily out of the cemetery.

As Joe slammed the door of his apartment shut behind him he wondered dimly how this had happened. A year ago he had been a junior in college, a year ago he had been planning to open a detective agency, and a year ago he had a brother. Now he had no one, now he worked the night shift at a rundown diner, and now he had given up on life, and on his dreams.

Most days he wanted to die, the guilt threatened to choke him and the only reason he stayed alive was to fulfill the promise he made his brother. Back when Iola died he had been a wreck, and had wanted nothing more then for the pain to end. But Frank had made him promise to keep living.

Sometimes Joe wondered whether or not he was actually keeping the promise; as he was pretty sure the existence he had at the moment was not the one his brother would have wanted for him. The blond couldn't bring himself to care much though; it had hurt too much to go on living as he had before his brother's death. Joe sighed and climbed out the window onto his fire escape; he needed air. He finally passed out from a combination of alcohol and exhaustion at three in the morning.

**A/N (hides from readers angry about her killing Frank.) Review. The next five chapters are prewritten so updates will come fairly quick. Well...once they get edited...anyway. **


	2. The Morning After

**A/N I over slept. I'm in a crappy mood. So, I will sit here and scowl at the computer screen. But, I would like to say thanks so much for all the reviews, and also thanks (to most of you) for not trying to kill/maim/torture me. The chapter where Frank actually died is next. If I have time I'll put it up tommorow. :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nada.**

Joe Hardy awoke with a groan at just after eight in the morning on January 11th. He had fallen asleep on the fire escape and the crisscrossing pattern of the metal was imprinted on the side of his face and part of his left arm making him look a bit like a human checkerboard. He was freezing and his head throbbed; protesting the drinking he had done last night. Joe blinked groggily and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. The blond climbed back through the window and into the apartment. The world spun and he gripped the edge of the windowsill until his vision righted itself again. The night before came rushing back accompanied by the painful realization that his brother was dead. He always seemed to forget that Frank was gone. Joe supposed it had something to do with his mind wanting to deny the fact.

He hardly slept anymore; every night visions of the last few days of his brother's life haunted him, and during the day thoughts of his death consumed him. Some days he stayed up all night staring blankly out the window into the alleyway, other times such as last night, the lack of sleep finally took over allowing him to sleep completely knocked out and thus too far gone to have any dreams at all and by extension thoughts of Frank.

Joe laughed bitterly as his thoughts wandered back to the last day of his brother's life. The memories came to the front of his mind easily but then this was probably because he spent half his life thinking about it. Frank hadn't been twenty-one for even a month yet when he died. A huge party had been planned for the 18th of January because Joe had been in the hospital on his actual birthday. And instead of a party to celebrate a milestone in his older brother's life they had held a funeral. In retrospect it was sort of ironic, on the day they had planned to celebrate his birth they had ended up marking his death.

It occurred to Joe that for some reason he was always the one who escaped. He had the Devil's luck as many people informed him. For all the times he was kidnapped and held hostage he always escaped. It just seemed so unfair; he was the reckless one, the one who did stupid things without thinking, but he was never the one who died, he wasn't the one who was taken in the prime of his life. No, of course not, he would probably outlive everyone. Joe was positive that somewhere whoever it is that controlled the universe was having a good laugh at his expense.

He found it almost amusing in a morbid sort of way. No matter what he did he always survived. In fact, he was fairly certain that if he were still with Vanessa and decided to throw himself in front of a bus that the bus would swerve and hit her instead. In a way when he cut himself off from them all and moved away he was actually helping them. Joe was adamant that leaving had probably increased their life spans by years. Half of them probably would be dead by now if he had stayed. Really he had been doing them a favor, right? Or maybe that was just another lie he told himself. He spent so much time lying to himself that he wasn't really sure what was actual reality and what was part of the fantasy he had made up.

Joe had moved to New York City a week after Frank died. Upon moving he cut off all ties to his former life and most days he had no regrets about it. He liked life in the city; he was just another nameless faceless person lost in the bustle of New York, he didn't matter to anyone and he liked it that way. In fact he hardly had to make contact with any person since he waited tables at night; from eleven to six in the morning. Hardly anyone came to the diner during his shift; actually hardly anyone came to the diner at all. The only people he saw were a few regular customers, the other employees, a few of his neighbors, and occasionally a clerk at some store he stopped in to get food or clothes.

Despite the time that had passed since he'd last slept in the house he couldn't forget the terms he'd left on. Joe hadn't left simply out of a desire to escape, that was part of it of course, but it wasn't everything. Fenton Hardy had been…distraught over Frank's death to say the least and he had seen fit to take it out on Joe. Not that in all honesty Joe really blamed his father because as far as the blond was concerned his elder brother's death had been all his fault. Hearing Fenton repeat the doubts Joe himself had felt as fact had finally driven him away. Joe swallowed feeling his throat tighten as memories of those horrible days after Frank died assaulted his mind. Joe shook his head to clear it. He didn't want to think about this.

Not that any of it really mattered anymore. In the life of Joe Hardy there was only one person and that was himself. What had happened in those days after Frank died were between him and Fenton, and Joe felt no need to consider those days.

His current existence was not something he would've wished on his worst enemy, but then the only reason one attains such a cloistered life is tragedy and fear. Joe had suffered horrible things in his lifetime but nothing had ever been as bad as losing his brother. Before when bad things had happened he had been able to keep going but that was only because he knew Frank would always be there. He promised. Frank had never broken a promise...until January 10th 2007 that is.

**A/N Review.**


	3. Death Scene

**A/N I have returned! With an update. Lol. Maybe I should just say one o'clock every day because that seems to be my typical wake up time. roflmao. **

**Thanks for all the reviews.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

"_I don't know about this, Frank…" Joe said the words sounding foreign; this wasn't the way things were supposed to be, Frank was supposed telling him that running after dangerous child killers was a bad idea not the other way around._

"_Joe, this is the guy who killed ten children, he killed Danny." Frank said his tone holding a pleading note. Danny was their ten year old neighbor who Frank used to baby-sit. Joe swallowed and fought the urge to laugh at the odd symmetry to the conversation, every word was practically a mirror image of the conversations he held with Frank on almost every case. And it really was a mirror image, seeing as the entire situation was reversed. The blonde closed his eyes briefly and said a quick prayer in the hopes that what he was about to say wouldn't end up backfiring spectacularly in his face. _

"_Alright, let's go…" Joe said his voice wavering slightly as his instincts screamed at him that this was a bad idea._

"_He went this way," Frank said indicating with his thumb toward one of the tallest cliffs situated above Barmet Bay. Joe stared up at the imposing face of the cliff; the rock was dark and several cracks could be seen in the surface even from where they stood more then fifty feet below the top. _

"_We're really not supposed to go there," Joe started; once again he was struck by the eerie backwards familiarity of the conversation. "Dad said…" Joe continued only to be cut off by his older brother._

"_We're going to get out of this fine, Joe, we always do; Dad won't even have to know." Frank answered trying in vain to reassure his brother. Joe sighed inwardly, he was supposed to be the reckless one, not Frank. And honestly, Joe wasn't good at being the responsible, cautious one. Without waiting for a response the elder of the two turned and headed away from their car toward the rocky path that twisted up the cliff. Joe groaned before turning and hurriedly following in his supposedly cautious brother's wake. _

_It took them almost twenty minutes to walk up the winding path that took them to the top of the cliff. Joe was around fifteen feet behind his brother. Frank moved out of Joe's line of vision as he made the final turn onto the ledge that held the cave they'd been trying to get to. They were fairly certain that the killer was in it. Their suspicions were confirmed (at least for Joe) when he turned the corner two minutes after his brother and was greeted by the sight of his brother with a gun pressed against his temple._

"_Hello, Joseph, lovely weather we're having, don't you think?" The man inquired pleasantly. Joe gaped at him. The killer grinned. "Did you honestly think I didn't see you guys following me back there?" He inquired disbelievingly with a raised eyebrow. Joe ignored him in favor of attempting to find some way to get both him and his brother off the cliff and away from the killer safely. _

"_So, um," Joe paused desperately trying to think of a way to distract the man and give them more time. He seized upon the first thought that jumped into his head and ran with it. "Why did you kill all those kids?" The blond questioned. The man considered him briefly before responding. _

"_I suppose since you're both going to die I may as well indulge you." He started off. "The kids are a smoke screen, we, that is my employers and I, only killed them to make sure the police had their attention focused elsewhere so that we could carry out our real plans." Joe gaped at the man and noticed that his brother was shaking with barely contained anger. "We killed that kid, what was his name…Dave?"_

"_DANNY, HIS NAME WAS DANNY." Frank shouted it probably wasn't the wised move. The killers eyes hardened and he jammed the gun tighter against the detective's skull. _

"_Yeah, we killed __**Danny**__, to insure that the two of you would come running after us. He was the perfect target, because killing him would make your brother not think clearly without making it apparent that this had anything to do with either one of you. Otherwise we probably would've killed your lovely girlfriend, Callie is it?" The killer whose name they'd later learn was Christopher Reynolds continued._

"_Leave. Callie. Alone." Frank hissed through clenched teeth. Joe sent his older brother a warning look before asking Reynolds another question. _

"_What exactly are you trying to distract the police from?" _

"_We're running, a…well let's just call it a water taxi service for certain I believe you'd call them terrorist groups." Reynolds explained. "You see, this is the perfect location to carry out our plans, it's right near the Canadian border if we need to make a quick escape, and it has a large waterfront. Cargo boats are inspected before they leave for the United States but not once they arrive, our guests board after we leave and no one is the wiser. And we needed to keep it that way considering how important our travelers are so we had to insure that the police were distracted and the two of you weren't thinking clearly." The man elaborated the sheer magnitude of what they were doing hit Joe and his eyes widened in horror. "However, Joseph, I do believe that it's about time for you to say bye-bye to big brother." Reynolds said an evil grin upon his face. Joe tried frantically to think of a way to keep the man talking but he came up with nothing. "You know, I could just shoot you…" He continued this time addressing Frank. "But, that's so cliché, where's the originality in that?" Reynolds said sounding half crazed._

"_Um, nowhere?" Joe suggested apprehensively._

"_Exactly." Reynolds replied smiling at Joe as he waved his gun wildly pointing it first at Joe then Frank and finally back to Joe. "I'm glad you understand, now let me see…" He paused thoughtfully murmuring under his breath so that the brothers could barely make out what he was saying. "…older brother…bomb…first…Joe…girlfriend, dead…that's it…" Frank seemed to be calming down now his chocolaty brown eyes watching Reynolds worriedly. Joe's own sapphire eyes echoed that worry. "Sit down, Frank." Reynolds said grabbing Frank by his left shoulder and forcing him downward. The detective scowled and allowed himself to be pushed into a sitting position on the cliff floor. "I've decided what I'm going to do," Reynolds stated cheerfully never moving his eyes from Joe's face. "You see, as you already know, I've researched you both quite a bit, and I'm aware of that girlfriend of yours…what's her name? Irma? Isabella? You know the one that got her self blown up?"_

"_Her. Name. Was. Iola." Joe said through clenched teeth._

"_Whatever," Reynolds replied kneeling down his eyes still fixed on Joe, whilst his gun was pointed downward at Frank. He studiously reached into his pocket and pulled out a length of rope. "Sit back against that rock," The man ordered gesturing with the gun toward a large boulder that appeared to weight at least fifty pounds. Reynolds dutifully began to wrap the rope around Frank's torso and the rock, he made sure the knot was tight enough to keep the twenty-one year old from moving. "And now, it's time to say, bye-bye, to big-brother." The murderer continued sadistically walking closer to Joe and grabbing the blonde by his arm. "I've decided," The seemingly insane man began. "To blow your brother up." He finished smiling triumphantly at the look of horror on Joe's face. _

**A/N You have to wait until next chapter to see him actually die...although it's not like you'll be left in suspense for long considering that A. you know he's dead, and b. I update everyday. lol. Anyway, review.**


	4. An Explosive End

**A/N I'm baaaaaaaaaaack! And here is the update I promised. **

**Thanks for all the reviews everybody!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

_Reynolds easily dragged Jo**e** down the path toward level ground, the criminal stopped his movements only when they were safely standing near the brothers' car with their faces toward the cliff. Reynolds held up a small black rectangular detonator and waved it before Joe's eyes. Fear stabbed his heart and Joe was certain that he would never see his brother alive again. _

_The blonde looked upward and met his brother's warm brown eyes for what would be the last time. "Ready? Set. Go!" And before the boy had a chance to react a noise louder then any he'd previously heard reverberated through the air. Joe glanced up in time to see a ball of fire engulf the cliff face (and his brother) before a chunk of rock hit him in the back of the head turning his word mercifully dark. _

**Same time, Frank…**

_Frank swallowed and twisted against the ropes binding him as he watched Reynolds drag his brother away. He craned his neck to see behind him and his eyes locked on the explosives that waited patiently to be detonated. His heart was pounding in his ears and he was certain that his brother could hear it from his position three hundred feet below._

_ From his vantage point Frank could just barely make out Reynolds waving a small black box-like object in front of his brother's face. It was in this moment that Frank became painfully certain that he was about to die. Time slowed down, the air seemed to thicken, adrenaline rushed through the young man's veins; Frank drank these last few moments in knowing that they would be his last on the Earth. The deeply rooted sense of horror began to dissipate and a feeling of peace diffused through his body; this was it, this was his time. Frank took one last look down toward his baby brother, their eyes locked for the briefest of moments and then Frank's world burst into flame._

**An hour later, Joe…**

"_W-what happened?" The blonde haired detective said wildly shooting up in the hospital bed. "Where is he? Where's Frank?!" The world was slowly brought into focus and the college student was able to make out the faces of Chief Ezra Collig and Officer Con Riley standing next to his hospital bed. _

"_You were knocked out," Con started hesitantly. Joe closed his eyes tightly as memories of the night came flooding to the forefront of his mind._

"_What happened to Frank?" _

"_I'm sorry Joe, but, your brother…he didn't, he didn't-make it." The usually brusque police Chief said softly, the grief he was feeling visible on his lined face._

"_No, no, no, no…" Joe interrupted loudly placing his hands over his ears. "No, no, no, he's not dead, no, no, no, NO…" The blond was shaking his words getting louder with each denial._

"_I'm so sorry, Joe." Con said his usually cheerful eyes mixed with a look of grief and anger at the person who killed Frank._

"_No, no, no, no…" Joe's blood pressure was beginning to sky rocket and the door burst open to reveal an orderly, two nurses, and a doctor. _

"_I need you to take a deep breath and calm down," Doctor Elizabeth Beckett commanded gently her sympathetic brown eyes focused entirely on her patient._

"_No, no, no, no…" Joe was lost in his own world now his eyes had glazed over. The curly-haired doctor sighed and motioned for one of the nurses to sedate him. Joe didn't even flinch when the nurse approached him with the sedative he simply remained staring blankly at the wall; a captive in his own mind._

**A/N Heh...I'm evil...I almost feel bad for Joe, though...all right, I _do_ feel bad for him. Anyway review, please.**


	5. Back to Bayport

**A/N This is the first moment I've had time to update today, bowling practice ran over and then I had hmwrk, and debate research, and then my computer wouldn't cooperate. But all is well now. **

**Thanks for all the reviews, everyone, I am thrilled with the amount of reviews I've been getting for this story.**

**Disclaimer: An-Jelly-Ca owns nothing, she owned nothing last chapter, the chapter before that, the one before that, and the one before that. And she is sure that she will continue to own nothing in the next chapter.**

Joe shot up in bed and looked wildly around the room finally awaking from the horror filled memories that had replayed in his mind during his dream. The blond pushed a strand of hair out of his eyes and got out of bed with a sigh. He'd been having a lot of bad dreams about those horror filled days ever since he went back to Bayport last week. He wasn't sure why he went; it wasn't as though there was anything left for him there but he'd gone just the same. The diner where he worked was being fumigated (something about a rat infestation) and he had the next two weeks off as a result. He had first gone to visit Frank's grave again.

_"Hi, Frank." Joe said sitting down in the snow in front of his brother's tombstone. "So, I've been pretty lost lately, I don't know what to do with myself. I don't know how to live without you, the only reason why I got past Iola's death was because you were there with me. But now without you I have no one, I have nothing." Tears swam before his eyes and Joe angrily wiped them away. _

_"I've been thinking about those last few months, and I think…I think I might need to go back to Bayport. I need to know if I did the right thing by leaving." Joe paused as though expecting his brother to answer only to be greeted by silence other then the howl of the wind as more snow fell from the gray sky. _

_"I wish I could ask you what you think. I miss those days back when we were in high school and I could always come running to you for help. No matter what happened or who was truly at fault you would listen objectively and give your opinion. And you never judged me, you always defended me, and now that you're gone I don't know what to do. I need you, Frank." With those final words Joe pushed himself up from the ground and gave one last look at the tombstone before mumbling a goodbye and exiting the cemetery. _

After that visit to the cemetery Joe had started to feel increasingly restless. Thoughts of Bayport and his old life haunted him until he finally cracked and decided to take the train to Bayport and check things out. He didn't plan to _actually_ talk to anyone; he just wanted to see how they were. That's all.

_Joe took a deep breath as he stepped off the train and found himself in the familiar Bayport train station. He remembered running after criminals here with Frank, he remembered taking the train to the city to investigate cases, and during their college days taking it back to NYU after a visit home. He was starting to have second thoughts now that he was actually confronted with his old hometown. _

_Joe took a few deep breaths and squared his shoulders before walking out of the train station and into the bright daylight of Bayport. It was sort of eerie how familiar his surroundings looked even as Joe himself felt so different. People bustled by, parents with their kids, teenagers in groups of five or ten, and several feet in front of him Joe saw a little boy fall down and start crying only to be helped up by a slightly older boy who Joe guessed was his older brother. It reminded him of his own childhood with Frank and Joe had to take a moment to calm himself before walking resolutely past the two boys and into town. _

_Joe spotted a payphone and headed toward it, he could see a phonebook hanging from a chain on the booth. He planned to find out if everyone was still in town and he figured that looking them up in the phonebook was as good way as any to find out. Taking a deep breath the blond flipped through the phonebook first going to "B" and looking for Vanessa. He found his former girlfriend's address under that of her mother. Joe pondered the address trying to remember what part of town it was in finally placing it in the richer north side of town. It looked like Vanessa had found success in her chosen field of computer science. _

_Joe tore the page out of the book with Vanessa's address on it not really caring that it was probably impolite considering that the book was for public use. Joe reasoned that as a member of the public it was perfectly reasonable for him to take the page. Besides he didn't particularly want anyone calling Vanessa ex-girlfriend or not. _

_Joe considered calling a taxi as he walked down the street toward the neighborhood where Vanessa lived. In the end he resolved to walk noting that Vanessa's apartment should only be about ten minutes away if memory served him. Joe walked through town with his head down not wanting to see anyone he had known or be recognized by anyone. He soon reached Vanessa's apartment building and stood in front of it looking up at the red brick building with a feeling of apprehension as he tried to decide whether he should ring the buzzer. _

_He didn't really want to talk to Vanessa; he just wanted to see her, just for a second, so that he could know he made the right decision. Finally deciding that she probably wouldn't be home this early in the day the blond pressed the buzzer. That way he could go back to his anonymous life in the city knowing that he'd at least tried. Joe froze as a familiar voice spoke over the intercom. "Yes?" Vanessa's voice queried. "Hello? Is anyone there?" She added when no response came. _

_Joe decided that this were enough contact for him and hurriedly headed away from the building and back toward the main area of town. As Joe walked along his stomach began to growl reminding him that he hadn't eaten since yesterday, with a sight the blond glanced around looking for a viable restaurant choice. Joe was reasonably certain that there was a half-way decent diner two blocks away. _

_He used to go there with Vanessa, Frank, and Callie on double dates to celebrate the closure of a case or a particularly exiting athletic triumph over one of Bayport High's main rivals. He reached the diner with minutes and opened the door with just a small bit of apprehension fearing that he would see someone he had previously known. He finally reassured himself that the waitresses at the diner tended to be local teenagers all those he had known had since grown up. Joe slid into a booth near the back and waited for a waitress to take his order. He absentmindedly drummed his fingers on the tabletop as his mind drank in the familiar surroundings. Despite everything that had happened it was good to be home. _

_"Joe? Joe Hardy?" Joe froze hearing the familiar feminine voice of his brother's former girlfriend. He was tempted to ignore her in the hopes that she would think she was mistaken, unfortunately he rather underestimated Callie Shaw. Callie walked straight to his table and slid onto the bench across from him. "It's been so long." The blonde haired girl remarked taking in the sight of her former friend. _

_"It has." Joe acknowledged awkwardly wanting nothing more then to leave the diner, to leave the town. _

_"It hasn't been the same without you." Callie remarked in a sad tone as the final days before Joe had fled town replayed in his mind. _

_"How is everyone?" Joe questioned finally putting aside his resignation in favor of getting news on his friends and family. _

_"Well, Phil is interning at a major computer research corporation, Vanessa works there as well, and Tony owns Mr. Pizza, he's in his last year of college he went to culinary school after getting a two year degree. Biff is interning on channel 7 news he plans to be a sportscaster, and Chet is helping manage his parents farm, they plan to turn control over to him in a year or so. Oh, and he married Liz Webling, she runs the Bayport Times." Callie said all this in one breath without pause. _

_"So, everyone's doing really well then?" Joe questioned half of him hoping that she'd say yes, the other half almost wanting her to say no so that his disappearance would have meant something to him. _

_"Well, they're O.K. but no one is particularly happy, you know? They get by, they all have jobs they enjoy, and they still get together to catch up. But none of us are nearly as tight knit as we were back before…well you know…" Callie looked at Joe sadly before continuing. "How are you, really?" _

_"I'm…fine…" _

_"Please, Joe…tell me the truth, don't lie." Joe gave the other blond a hard look trying to decide what to tell her. He finally decided for some form of the truth. _

_"I live in __New York City__ in a small apartment; I work as a waiter at a small diner two blocks from my apartment. I don't get out much anymore besides to go to work or get groceries and other necessities." _

_"Oh, Joe…" Callie murmured softly grabbing her former friend's hand and squeezing it gently. "Why don't you come home? Come back to Bayport, you can stay in my condo until you get a place of your own." She doubted the blond would accept her offer but still offered it out of the hope that he would come back and things would be normal again. They could all be young again, and Frank would be alive and they wouldn't have to worry about things like whether their friend was alive or okay. They would be free to yammer on about inconsequential things like whose college team would beat the others'. _

_"I'm sorry, Callie, I can't come back here. I just can't." Joe said absently stirring his coffee which a waitress had poured several minutes ago without attracting the attention of either person. _

_"At least let me come visit you." Callie suggested hopefully. _

_"I guess…I guess it couldn't hurt…" Joe decided with a sigh. He accepted a pen from Callie and scribbled down his address. "I work the __11p.m. to 6a.m.__ shift so any time other then that is fine." _

_"Okay, how about this Thursday at three? I'll come visit, okay? And we'll talk?" _

_"All right." The blond agreed grudgingly. _

**A/N Review.**


	6. Remembering a Friend

**A/N Sorry I didn't stick to my whole update every day thing. I had to rework this chapter, and so it's a tad late. But I have chapter's 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 done. So, I shall be updating daily again. **

**Thanks for all the reviews everyone:) And a special thanks to my fantastic beta The Silent Rumble, who I am so glad bribed me into writing this story. roflmao. **

**Disclaimer: I own nada!**

She was forgetting something. She just couldn't remember exactly what it was that she had forgotten. The young woman huffed, angry at herself for standing in the middle of her apartment wondering about some forgotten item when she was supposed to have left for work half an hour ago. She was going to be late and her boss would be mad and there went her chances of being promoted from intern who worked on the occasional design to actual computer designer. It was her dream, even just working at this company was her dream, this was her big chance…but, she wasn't happy.

Vanessa shook her head to clear it and laughed shakily to herself. This was insane, she had finally lost it. Lost…she'd lost something…or someone… What was she doing? Wondering about happiness, and forgotten things when she had work to do…

Vanessa scowled at herself for worrying about such frivolous things and hurriedly grabbed her purse and briefcase before rushing out the door.

She finally arrived at work now thirty minutes late. Vanessa all but ran out of the elevator and down the hall to her cubicle where she promptly crashed into Phil who was waiting inside for her. She dropped her briefcase and it snapped open, old, frayed case that it was, not that she'd admit it. _Joe_ gave her that case, the day she got the job as a junior intern at the computer design firm. _Joe…_Thoughts of her former boyfriend flooded to the front of her mind as she knelt on the ground to pick up her spilled papers. Phil joined her on the floor and helpfully gathered up her papers and handed them to her. Vanessa smiled at him gratefully and reached for her planner, it was laying open on the floor. The smile froze on her face and slowly faded as it suddenly occurred to her exactly what she'd forgotten. Exactly a year and a week ago Frank had died, and she'd forgotten the anniversary of his death. She should've sent the Hardys flowers or something, so they would know someone was thinking about their son, and then there was…Joe, it always came back to Joe.

"Vanessa? Are you okay?" Phil was talking to her but she didn't notice thoughts of Frank's funeral were flooding to the front of her mind, memories of Joe breaking down after the eulogy, thoughts of her life being turned upside down, of losing one of her best friends, and the only man she'd ever loved as a result.

_The church was silent, dead silent. St. Emily Church wad hardly ever quiet, it was a small community church and the parishioners all knew each other. During any normal mass or ceremony people would be turning around in the pews and leaning over fellow parishioners in an attempt to catch up with their friends, neighbors, and family members. Today was different; every person in the church sat deathly still their eyes staring straight ahead at the priest…and the casket a few feet to his right._

_ "It is a tragedy when we lose a member of our community at any time, but it is truly horrible to have lost one so young. We must trust that Frank Hardy is in the hands of our Lord. God has a plan for all of His children and He will take care of Frank now that he is back in His Kingdom." The priest spoke these words in an attempt to console the family and friends of the teenager. Very few seemed to be focused on the words, over half the church was in tears, and the others seemed to be barely holding onto their composure. _

_Seated in the front row directly behind the casket was the family of the deceased. On the end of the pew sat Fenton Hardy, the father, who was staring straight ahead a look of utter shock on his face, every so often a tear would slide out of the corner of his eye and he would let it slide down his face seemingly not noticing or not caring. On his right sat Laura Hardy, the mother, she was biting down hard on her bottom lip and tears were spilling out of her eyes faster then she could wipe them away. Joe Hardy sat directly between his mother and his aunt. He was staring blankly at the casket, he was the only one in their pew who wasn't crying, and he had long since run out of tears. His mother had his hand in a death grip, and looked like she had no intention of ever letting go. On Joe's other side sat his Aunt Gertrude, she looked like she had aged ten years since finding out her nephew had been killed. She had never thought their detective work was safe, and no after being proven right she wished she had been wrong more then anything else in the world. _

_"And now, Frank's brother Joe will give the eulogy." Joe snapped out of his trance upon hearing his name and stood up walking over to where the priest was standing. He now looked determinedly away from the casket. _

"_Frank and I were best friends, we were partners in our detective work, and we worked well together. He was calm, patient and methodical; he always took the time to listen." Joe paused and took a deep, shuddering breath. He had thought he was out of tears, but apparently not. "Frank was the perfect big brother, he would always stick up for me, and he was always willing to help me whether it was a problem with school, or if it were personal, he'd always listen and give me advice." Joe swallowed, pausing for a moment to regain control. _

_"Frank had always wanted to be a detective, ever since he was little, he'd say I want to be just like daddy. And I, being his little brother wanted to be whatever he was. Frank was always trying to help people, and I don't know anyone who didn't like him," Joe paused for a moment. "Except for a few criminals, of course." This got a few appreciative chuckles from the crowd especially the police officers who took up four full pews in the back. The entire force had shown up. _

_"__We, that is Frank and I, chased after criminals always thinking that we were indestructible, that nothing could ever touch us, until one day, someone finally managed. My brother was taken away from me by a child murderer; he died trying to stop that monster from hurting anyone else. My brother's gone and the world is less because of it."__ Joe was done with his speech he couldn't bear to stay up there anymore. It seemed so wrong to be there, to be alive when his brother was dead. With that the blond walked passed his family members and out of the church. _

_V__anessa Bender stood up from her spot in the third pew and headed out of the church after Joe. When Vanessa got out there she found Joe sitting on the cement walkway to the church with tears coursing down his face. Vanessa sat down next to Joe and put her arm around the blond boy. "How are you doing?" She wasn't sure why she asked him that, it was fairly obvious that he wasn't doing well, but she figured that it was better then leaving him to brood over the night Frank died. He didn't answer. She really didn't expect him to. _

_They spent the rest of the funeral sitting there on the walkway until people started to exit the church. At this point the couple got up and stood silently waiting for Joe's family to exit. When they did Joe silently joined them while Vanessa headed to her car. They were going to the cemetery next and Joe would be riding with his family directly behind the hearse._

"Van?" Phil was calling to her again and she came back to reality with a start.

"Huh?" She asked in a confused tone.

"You zoned out." Phil answered her helpfully.

"It's been a year you know." Vanessa said shoving the last of her papers into the briefcase and standing up.

"Since, you know…"

"Oh." He did know, he knew all to well. Frank, the person he considered to be his best friend, the person who had shared his love of science and computers and the first friend he'd made when he came to Bayport in first grade, was dead, he had been for a year and one week. He had remembered, it had been the only thing he'd thought about for weeks. The more he had tried to push the thoughts of his deceased friend away the more the memories had plagued him.

"How mad is Mr. Fredrickson?" Vanessa asked abruptly changing the subject in an attempt to relieve the tension that had descended on the room.

"Not that mad, actually, I told him you got caught in traffic, as far as he knows the car in front of you got in an accident and the whole street got backed up." Phil said with a small smile.

"Thanks, Phil." Vanessa answered with a sigh of relief with that she plopped down in her office chair and spun around so she was facing him. "What're we doing today?" And with that they began the work day both determinedly pushing memories of their friends to the back of their minds.

**A/N Review! Major twists ahead in the next chapter.**


	7. Plot Twists

**A/N** **Helloooooooo, people! I am backkkkk! I am beyond thrilled with your reviews, I'm glad everyone likes the story. Also, thanks to TSR for his fantastic betaing of this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

Joe warily ran a hand through his blond hair, it was beginning to become unmanageable, he should really see about getting it cut soon. He peered into his fridge and found that it was empty other then a three quarters empty jar of peanut butter, two diet sodas, and what appeared to be either a sandwich or a pastry of some sort…he wasn't quite sure as it looked more like a glob of semi-solid white goo then anything else. In any case, Joe was fairly certain that it wasn't safe to ingest, it looked like he would have to venture out to the grocery store if he planned to eat at some point in the near future.

The former detective mulled over the decision for a brief moment but the painful growling in his stomach convinced him that, yes, he did need to go buy some food. Joe grabbed his wallet and keys off the counter and headed toward his apartment door pausing only to grab his jacket out of the hall closet. Joe was halfway out the door when he realized that Callie was supposed to be stopping by later that day with a sigh Joe headed back into the apartment and grabbed a pen and sheet of notebook paper and hurriedly scribbled down a note to the girl.

Joe stuck the note to the outside of the door with a piece of tape just in case Callie arrived before he got back and thought he had given her a fake address or whatever, although the thought of making her forget about him once more was tempting. He would've done it if he wasn't so desperate for news of the others, news of his parents, his friends, of Vanessa…

Joe browsed the aisles of the supermarket with little interest; food didn't really have much appeal to him anymore he just bought whatever he needed to get by. The blond selected a box of cereal he could tolerate, and grabbed a loaf of bread (white bread; he cared little about the fact that the item was over-processed and completely unhealthy, Frank had been the one who worried about such things), he also picked up a dozen eggs, some American cheese slices, a gallon of milk, and some lunchmeat (ham and turkey, not salami though, he _hated_ salami, Frank was the one who liked salami).

Deciding that this would get him through at least the next two weeks considering the fact that he usually ate breakfast at the diner Joe headed to the cash register. A bored looking blond girl with far too many piercings was his cashier. She wordlessly scanned his purchases and put them in bags. Not that Joe had any objection to her silence, he hated talkative people nowadays. "$21.52." She informed Joe in an uninterested tone. Joe handed her twenty-five dollars and silently accepted his change, he gave her a brief nod of thanks and took his groceries from her and headed out the doors of the supermarket.

It occurred to him that he probably should have bought something that normal people would actually consider a 'meal' considering that he was having company and what-not, but he could not bring himself to care. Besides, he could always bring Callie to the diner, she'd probably nag him about seeing where he worked if she was still anything like the girl he remembered.

But, she didn't seem much like the person he had known, the Callie he knew had hardly given him a second look other then to complain about the way he stole Frank's attention. This new Callie seemed to be quieter, more withdrawn, she was certainly more accepting, but Joe wasn't sure he liked her better this way. To be honest the Callie he missed was the one from when they were kids before she was Frank's girlfriend and they were all just friends, romance had really complicated their lives, not that it really mattered anymore. Childhood squabbles were just that, they no longer had any meaning to Joe. Nothing did.

The blond distractedly kicked at a small chunk of pavement that had come loose; he missed Frank, it had been over a year and it didn't hurt any less then when it happened. Sure, he accepted the death as real now, but the huge gaping hole in his chest was still there and just as deep as ever. Joe looked up and realized that he had walked past his street and with a sigh turned around to head back toward Central, he lived just off Central on Devon. He wasn't paying much attention and he careened straight into a dark haired young man. Joe started to walk past with a muffled 'sorry' when he glanced up and caught sight of the man's face.

"Frank?!" _He couldn't breathe, his throat was closing up. _The brunette looked at him fearfully and hurriedly shook his head.

"Sorry, sir, I don't know who 'Frank' is, you must be mistaken…" Joe froze at the voice. This was definitely Frank, this was his brother, he was alive, alive, as in not dead, as in living, breathing right in front of him, ALIVE. Joe took a step backward and spotted two men on either side of his brother, and they didn't look particularly happy. _Uh-oh. _Just as the panicked thought crossed his mind one of the men stepped forward and grabbed him by the arm.

"Why don't you come with us?" It wasn't a question, although Joe intended to treat it as such, the blond attempted to wrench himself from the man's hold, dropping his groceries in the process. He would've succeeded if not for the fact that the man's partner turned slightly so that Joe could see the gun that he had jammed in Frank's side. The blond heaved a heavy sigh and stopped struggling.

"Good, I thought you'd see it our way," The man said with a smirk.

Joe really wished that he had chosen to buy an apartment in an area where a; People actually came outside, and b; People actually gave a damn about their neighbors, the second option would really be helpful right about now, Joe couldn't help thinking this as he was dragged into an alleyway and shoved into the back of a waiting SUV. Frank followed shortly after him; one of the men, the one who had held the gun on Frank got in after them and sat behind them in the second back seat.

The other man got in the passenger seat. "Blindfold them." The man in the passenger seat ordered tersely. The man in the second back seat produced two black cloths which he quickly tied over their eyes; he also produced two pairs of handcuffs which he placed around their wrists.

"Don't try anything." He said finally before turning his attention away from them. "Oh, and don't talk, because if I hear one fucking word from either of you I will blow off the other's head." And with that the occupants of the vehicle fell into silence.

**A/N So, what do you think? **


	8. Reunion

**A/N I have returned! I had a debate tournament today and I got a 6/6 on one of my speeches! Also, I got nominated for best speaker! I am mundo happy, so I shall update...well I was going to update anyway...but still.**

**Thanks for all the reviews! I LOVE reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Joe estimated that they had been driving for approximately sixty-four minutes or so, but it was just an estimate. The sounds of civilization were starting to fade away, and the silence in the SUV was overwhelming. When they had first started their journey Joe had noticed that they stopped much more, presumably due to traffic, and he had also heard the sounds of horns honking and the occasional sound of someone talking loudly from a car next to them. But for the last fifteen minutes or so things had gotten steadily quieter and Joe had a hunch that wherever they were headed their chances of finding help weren't going to be great.

Not that it really mattered where they were going. Because Joe had already decided that this whole thing was a hallucination. He had tripped, probably over that chunk of pavement he'd been kicking, and hit his head! Yes! That was definitely it. Because there was no way his brother was alive. No chance at all. Life just didn't work that way for him. Joe Hardy had the worst luck when it came to friends, family, and girlfriends, if people were associated with him they died. End of story. So, there was absolutely no point in allowing himself to hope that this was real.

Now it may seem strange to some people to hope that you were kidnapped, but at this point Joe couldn't think of a better occurrence in the last year. Unless of course this was all a dream and Joe really hoped it wasn't, because he could not take the disappointment of waking up and remembering his brother was dead one more time. He'd been living with those dreams for a year now and they had just been starting to subside, so if this were all a hallucination Joe didn't know what the hell he would do. What Joe really wanted to do was pinch himself so he could determine whether this was real but the handcuffs on his wrists made it impossible to do so.

According to his mental estimation it had now been practically an hour and a half since they had been thrown into the back of the SUV. Just as this thought crossed his mind the SUV pulled to a halt and Joe briefly wondered whether they were at another red light or they had finally reached their destination. His unasked question was answered when he heard the driver's door open and slam shut followed shortly by the passenger's door.

He mentally counted to ten and waited for his door to be opened. He was rewarded by his door being opened at the exact moment he finished his counting. It looked like he still remembered typical kidnap procedure, although with the amount of times he'd been kidnapped in his life it was doubtful he would ever forget. Joe was roughly grabbed just above the elbow and pulled out of the car, he stumbled as he was half-dragged away from the SUV and toward what he assumed would be a building of some sort. He heard a swear word come from one of the men followed by a loud smacking noise which caused a jolt of fear to go through him. Joe was fairly certain that some altercation had taken place between his brother and one of the men. He was uncertain as to its nature however as he could not in fact see anything.

Joe was dimly aware of a door being opened and felt himself being shoved through a doorway, he tripped over the threshold. They walked straight for a minute or so, before turning right and walking straight again until they made a second right turn and then going straight and making a left turn and finally coming to a halt. _Right. Right. Left._ Joe kept the directions engrained in his memory so that when the opportunity arose he and Frank could escape. If this weren't some elaborate hallucination anyway, he still hadn't ruled that out.

Joe was shoved into a chair, hard, probably wooden and ordered to stay there. He heard the man who had led him inside slam the door shut and go into the hallway where he held a brief, seemingly tense conversation with another man. A moment later the door opened again and he heard two people enter one of them seemed to be dragging his feet. Joe was fairly certain that this was his brother and his captor. Score two for him!

He heard the captor shove Frank in a chair and reprimand him for something, Joe couldn't quite make out what, because the man was whispering in Frank's ear, at least that's what it seemed like. A moment later the door to the room opened again and someone walked over to him and untied his blindfold, Joe blinked slowly his eyes adjusting to the now bright light of his surroundings. He spotted Frank a few feet away on the other end of the room; he was sporting a bruised cheek where he had presumably been slapped. "Haven't we taught you by now that escape is futile, Mr. Hardy? I would think that you would've learned your lesson at this point. We do not tolerate disobedience."

Joe dimly recognized the man as the person who'd been driving the car, at least he thought that he was the same guy, he'd only seen the driver for a moment before he was blindfolded. "Bruno, teach Frank some manners. He's obviously forgotten his…again." And with that the tall man, Joe pegged him to be around 6'2 maybe 6'3 turned and left the room closing the door with an audible click. The other man in the room, the one who'd dragged Joe here, Bruno, the other man had called him, crossed the room in three strides and grabbed Frank by his collar pulling him to his feet.

"You…" Smack. "Will…" Uppercut to Frank's jaw. Joe winced. "Show." Punch. Frank clutched his stomach in pain and Joe found himself unable to tear his eyes away from his brother's face. "Some." Slap. "Damn." Punch. "Respect." Smack. Joe winced again. The man let go of Frank who sunk to the ground with clutching his stomach as best he could with his hands handcuffed and gasping for breath. Joe was positive that this was definitely no hallucination.

Frank was alive and right in front of him. _And hurt. Get moving, Hardy. _Joe launched himself out of the hard chair at his brother. The handcuffs impeded his movement somewhat but he rubbed slow circles on his brother's back in an attempt to ease his harsh breathing. Joe wasn't quite sure how long they sat like that as Frank regained control of his breathing, it was probably less then ten minutes but it felt like hours to both brothers, the only noise breaking the impermeable silence was the harsh sound of Frank's breathing. Finally when Frank was able to breathe normally Joe looked at his brother with pain-filled sapphire eyes and asked the question he desperately needed to ask. "Is it really you, Frank?" Joe asked his voice laced with disbelief.

"Yes, Joe, it really is." Frank replied and this seemed to be enough for his younger brother who pulled Frank into a hug and began to sob.

"I thought you died." Joe said softly. It was these four words that would haunt Frank for months to come. "I thought you died." Joe repeated and Frank whispered soothingly to his brother.

"We're going to be okay, Joe, everything will be okay." Frank wasn't really sure he believed the words himself but he said them anyway. He knew his captors, and the likelihood of things ever being okay again was slim. But he told Joe that everything would be fine anyway because he was a big brother and that was his job, it had always been his job, and he never regretted it.

**A/N So, what'd you think? Reviews are as always appreciated. (and desired...hint, hint...)**


	9. Explanations and Recollections

**A/N Hello, peoples. I'm sorry I didn't get an update for you on Sunday but my computer broke down, my uncle came over to fix it late Sunday night but then he had to reset everything so Word got erased. then he came over Monday night to do it but the time he got it fixed I had already gone to bed. And then on tuesday I spent all day studying for finals. I had AP World History, Health, and HNRS Geometry today and I am nervously waiting for my teachers to post my grades online. So, in the meanwhile I will post this chapter.**

**Thanks for all the reviews!!!**

**Disclaimer: An-Jelly-Ca owns nothing.**

"Wh…" Joe paused and hiccupped. "What happened to you that night on the cliff?" He asked. Frank closed his eyes briefly and seemed to be thinking, when he opened his eyes again Joe could see that they were darker and filled with pain.

"I had been looking down at the ground toward you, and I was certain that those moments would be the last of my life when someone came up behind me and hacked through the ropes with a knife, I was pulled upward and…"

Flashback

_A pair of strong arms pulled Frank roughly into a standing position and yanked him past the brush that had been directly behind him. "We only have a few seconds." The man murmured more to himself then Frank. Frank saw that behind the brush a pathway was carved into the mountain path. They made it maybe twenty feet down the path when the cliff face exploded into flames. Frank and his captor were thrown to the ground from the force of the explosion, a rock collided with his head and the last thing he heard before he lost consciousness was the sound of agonized screams coming from the other side of the cliff. Joe. He knew it was Joe, and with that last thought his world went black._

End Flashback

"When I finally came to I was in some kind of compound, these people are terrorists Joe, more specifically they're the Assassins, for the last year they've held me captive. I've been forced to work for them, they're running a major scam, it's international and from what I can tell they're planning a major attack in the next few months. And…and…" Frank could feel his calm exterior beginning to crack. "I thought you were dead, I thought you'd been killed in the explosion that the cliff had collapsed or something and you had died, and every night I hear the sounds of you screaming…" And with that Frank broke down. Joe rubbed soothing circles on his older brother's back.

"I guess we're even then." The blond joked, and Frank managed a small smile.

"It sure seems that way. So, uh, how is everyone?" The brunette asked. Joe looked away quickly but not before Frank saw a myriad of emotions cross his face there was pain, and anger, and something else it looked like shame…but what did Joe have to be ashamed of?

"I don't really know." Joe finally admitted in a quiet voice. "You see I left."

"Left?" Frank questioned.

"Yeah, I picked up and left, it was the reception after your funeral and I got in a fight with Dad…"

Flashback

_Joe walked into his Father's office without pausing to knock he needed to get away from everyone and his own room was to painful, he was constantly expecting Frank to walk in to it from the door connecting their rooms together via the bathroom. And besides that he hadn't seen his father since the funeral had ended and they'd barely spoken two words to each other since his Father had come to the hospital to pick him up. Joe's two words being, Frank's dead, and Fenton's response being, I know. His mother had told him to find his dad and try to get him to come downstairs. "Don't you know you should knock when entering my office?" Fenton asked in a gruff voice._

"_Well…yeah…but…" Joe found himself unable to formulate a clear response to his father's question. _

"_But, what? You didn't think about it did you?"_

"_It's not like you were doing anything…" Joe said in a puzzled tone._

"_It's not about your lack of manners, Joseph." Fenton snapped. Joe heaved a sigh at this; he was far too tired and far too depressed to deal with this right now._

"_Then what's it about?" Joe asked drawing himself up to his full height._

"_It's about you getting your brother fucking killed. You never think do you? And now because you acted without thinking yet again your brother is dead! If you hadn't been so careless Frank would be alive right now." Fenton answered pushing himself up from his desk chair and glaring down his nose at his youngest…no only son…_

"_It wasn't MY fault." Joe replied indignantly even as a small voice of doubt spoke up in the back of his head. Was it his fault? Could he have gotten Frank killed?_

"_Like hell it isn't! I told you not to go after these people, I told you not to, and you did it anyways and now Frank is dead, DEAD."_

"_Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" Joe screamed and before Fenton realized what he was doing he had slapped his son across the face. He looked down at his own hand in horror. Joe felt tears stinging at the corners of his eyes and he turned and fled out of the office and down the hall to his bedroom where he grabbed the duffle-bag that was stuffed with essentials in case he had to leave on a case quickly. He also threw in a few mementos including a scrapbook of Frank and him throughout the years and fled down the stairs past his father's open study door. The blond hurriedly brushed past the guests that packed their house and out the door._

End Flashback

"And so I left."

"I'm sorry Joey." Frank said sadly. Joe smiled softly at the childhood nickname.

"It's not your fault, Frank."

"And it wasn't yours when I…disappeared." Frank replied stubbornly. Joe opened his mouth to protest but Frank silenced him with a glare. The two brothers lapsed into silence content to sit with their backs against the wall and revel in the fact that the other was in fact alive and well…okay maybe not exactly well per se…but unharmed for the most part.

**A/N Review. Next chapter tommorow if my computer doesn't decided to explode or anything.**


	10. Painful Memories

**A/N Hello, people! I apologize that I didn't update Friday like I said I would, but I had bowling practice, got horribly lost on the way home, so I got to spend a fun filled two hours lost in the car smooshed in the middle between my friend Margaret, and my sister's friend Caralyn. And by the time I got home I was too annoyed to update. And yesterday was my sister's birthday. So, I am updating today.**

**Thanks for all the reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I own nada!**

Callie Shaw pulled up in front of the dingy gray apartment building that the GPS locater in her car informed her was Joe's apartment. She glanced at the napkin on which he had scribbled his address to double check that she had the right address. She did. If someone had told her a year ago that her boyfriend would be dead, and his happy go lucky brother would be living in a crappy apartment in New York City she would've laughed in his or her face and told them they should see a psychiatrist. T

he door into the building was being held open with someone's shoe. Callie had a theory that it belonged to the tenant she had passed by on her way in. He'd been standing by a car smoking a cigarette. He probably didn't want to have to unlock the door when he came in. The blonde mentally shrugged, it just made it easier for her. That way she didn't have to wait for Joe to come down and let her in. She paused in the dingy, gray hallway and looked at the list of tenants for Joe's name. She spotted his name almost immediately; he lived in apartment 3B, which she assumed was on the third floor.

The blonde headed up the stairs and wrinkled her nose up as she passed the second floor which reeked of alcohol. Callie breathed a sigh of relief when she finally got to the third floor. Quite frankly, this building kind of grossed her out, she was also mildly afraid of the tenants, excluding Joe. She flinched as the sound of screaming came from above her head. It would seem that Joe's neighbors didn't get along all that well. Callie stopped in front of Joe's door spotting the note on the door.

_Callie,_

_I went to the grocery store. If you're reading this, I didn't get back in time. There's a key under the mat, you can let yourself in. I should be back soon, the grocery store is only about a block away._

_Joe._

Callie allowed herself a small smile at the blonde's familiar messy scrawl. She didn't smile that much anymore, no one in their circle of friends did. She knelt down and lifted the mat, quickly locating the dingy bronze colored key underneath. The blonde stood up and dusted off her jeans before inserting the key in the lock and entering the apartment.

The door swung open to reveal a small kitchenette. The walls were white and the counter was bare except for a few pieces of mail and a pen. If she didn't know better she would think no one lived in the house. Callie cautiously advanced further into the house and came to a stop in the living room. The only furniture in the room was a small wooden coffee table and a couch that looked like it had seen better days. There was also a small television set in the corner.

Callie took a seat on the couch and nervously drummed a beat with her fingernails on the arm of said sofa. After ten minutes of waiting in such a fashion Callie glanced at her watch and wondered what on earth was taking Joe so long. If he hadn't given up his old life she would think he'd been kidnapped. She mentally shuddered she hated being alone for longer then a few minutes, whenever she was on her own she couldn't help but remember Frank dying. Callie shook her head in an attempt to keep the thoughts at bay but she was unable to stop the memory she wanted to suppress the most from jumping to the forefront of her mind.

_Flashback_

_Callie Shaw was alone in her house for the night, her parents were out to dinner with some friends of theirs. It was a quarter to eleven and she was contemplating whether she wanted to watch a movie or just flip the channels to find something semi-interesting to watch until she went to bed. She considered her collection of movies for a few moments and decided that she wasn't much interested in watching any of them. Instead she pressed power on her remote and proceeded to flip through the channels looking for something interesting to watch. She paused in her channel switching when she came to channel seven, the local news station, it was a live report of some sort and it was showing the face of some cliff (overlooking Barmet Bay she assumed) which was engulfed in flames. Callie realized that the volume was muted and hit the button to turn it up._

"…_police have refused to comment as of yet, but sources reveal that local teens Frank and Joe Hardy were taken hostage by the child serial killer who has been plaguing Bayport and the surrounding cities. Witnesses spotted Joe Hardy being taken by ambulance to Bayport General Hospital. We will be standing by to supply more updates as we get them. Back to you Alex." Some blond haired reporter was speaking but Callie couldn't remember her name. Katie? Carrie? Something like that. She couldn't quite comprehend what had happened. Frank and Joe were in an accident? Joe was hurt? Where was Frank? All thoughts of spending the remainder of the evening curled up on her couch forgotten Callie hurriedly grabbed her car keys and rushed out the door not caring that she was currently dressed in her pajamas or that she had left all the lights on in the house. _

_Callie reached the hospital in ten minutes, and dimly wondered how she had managed to avoid getting pulled over. She had been going at least thirty miles over the speed limit the entire way to the hospital. If people thought the young woman dressed in plaid pajama pants and an oversized t-shirt proclaiming 'Bayport High' on it looked strange they didn't show it. No one so much as glanced her way as she rushed up to the nurses' station in the emergency room. "Has Frank or Joe Hardy been admitted?" Callie asked the nearest nurse. _

"_Are you family?" The nurse asked. _

"_Yes. I'm his sister." Callie replied. The nurse eyed her suspiciously but didn't question her further._

"_He's in room 615." She answered. Callie concluded that this nurse must be new considering that the entire hospital staff knew who the Hardys were. Joe had once joked that they had rooms permanently reserved for them. She pondered this no further and headed to the elevator and pressed the button for the sixth floor. Callie navigated the corridors with the ease of someone who'd been there far too many times before. She paused outside of Joe's door feeling a sense of dread wash over her. The blonde pushed the negative feelings aside and knocked lightly on Joe's slightly ajar door before walking in. The detective was awake and staring toward her with haunted eyes. _

"_He's dead." _

"_What?" Callie asked not understanding who he was talking about._

"_Frank." Joe said a shudder racking his frame._

"_Frank what?" She couldn't comprehend the other's words surely he wasn't saying that Frank was dead._

"_Frank's dead. Blown up. All my fault." Joe said his lower lip quivering so slightly that she wasn't sure if it was her vision blurring or if Joe was about to start crying. Probably some combination of both because in the next second tears had started pouring down Joe's face and Callie's head spun. _

"_N-no." She gripped the wall for support. Was the world supposed to spin? Her ears were ringing and it felt like her brain was knocking against the inside of her skull. Joe's blood pressure was starting to sky rocket and a monitor was going off but Callie couldn't hear it over the ringing in her ears. The next thing she knew a doctor, two nurses, and an orderly were rushing into the room. She was aware of them trying to calm down Joe and then the world spun dangerously once more and she sank to the floor, Joe's words echoing in her head. __**Frank dead. Blown up. Just like Iola. My fault. Dead. Dead. Dead. Blown up. Frank. Iola. Her best friend. Her boyfriend. Joe's brother. His girlfriend. Frank. Dead. Frank. **__She was going to be sick, there wasn't enough air. Someone was shaking her. She couldn't make out what they were saying. _

"_Miss? Are you all right?" She wasn't all right. She never would be. The ringing had faded to a faint buzzing and she noted that the sound of Joe's sobs had died away. From her position on the floor she couldn't tell whether he was still awake but she was fairly certain that they would have sedated him. Callie opened her mouth to reply to whoever it was that was speaking to her but she couldn't seem to convince her vocal cords to cooperate. Instead of calmly saying I'm fine like she'd intended the blond burst into tears. Frank could not be dead. There was no way. She would not believe it. No. No. No. _

_She was being pulled up from the floor by someone, a nurse? Callie blinked at the hospital worker through the tears that obscured her vision. Definitely a nurse. Callie allowed herself to be steered from the room and down the hall where she was deposited in a chair. "What's your name Miss? Can I call someone for you?" Callie didn't respond. She had retreated into her mind and was wondering how Frank could possibly be…gone, she had seen him that morning. He wasn't dead. No way. It was a lie. The nurse snapped her fingers in front of the young woman's face in the hopes of getting a response. She received none. "Jen?" The nurse said calling to another woman in blue scrubs. "I think we should admit this girl for shock she's not responding to anything. I think she's a friend of the Hardys, we found her in Joe Hardy's room." The woman came over to her colleague and eyed Callie._

"_Her name is Callie Shaw, she's Frank Hardy's girlfriend…"_

"_The guy who got blown up?" _

"_Yeah, it would seem that Miss Shaw just found out. Put her in cubicle three, I'm going to try and contact her parents. I'll look in her file; their number should be in there." Callie was dimly aware of the nurse helping he stand and leading her somewhere. The room was a blur and she wasn't quite sure of what was going on. She allowed herself to be steered toward a bed and obediently sat down on it. The nurse asked her something else but Callie wasn't sure what it was and she didn't much care. So she turned her attention away from the nurse and stared determinedly up at the white ceiling. This was all just a bad dream, she was sure of it, any minute now she would wake up on the couch in her living room and discover that she had fallen asleep in the middle of some boring television show. She was certain of it._

_End Flashback_

**A/N I have Monday and Tuesday off school so I will be trying to write as many chapters as possible so that I can continue to update several times per week. Review. Update tomorrow.**


	11. Calling for Help

**A/N Sorry for the wait everyone, I've been really busy wiht school and crap, but the bwolign season has ended and I now have a tad more time, until we get into debate state season anyway. lol.**

**Thanks for all the reviews everyone I love to hear from you!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Callie Shaw opened her eyes and blinked confusedly at her surroundings. This was so _not_ her apartment. Oh, she was at Joe's. She remembered now. Callie squinted down at her watch not quite believing the time it stated. It was eight in the morning; she must've fallen asleep on his couch last night waiting for him. Speaking of Joe, where exactly was the blond? Callie stood up and stretched briefly before glancing around the apartment for some sign of Joe.

She found none, but figured he was probably in his bedroom sleeping. So, she headed into the hallway and down the hall noticing that the door to the last room was slightly ajar. "Joe?" Callie asked softly knocking lightly on the door frame. No response. Assuming that he simply hadn't heard her, (after all when had simply calling out his name been enough to wake up Joe Hardy?), Callie proceeded into the bedroom. The first thing she noticed was that the room was definitely Joe's and not a guest room considering the piles of laundry littering the floor. His bed while unmade was empty and appeared un-slept in, if the basket of laundry taking up the majority of it was any indication.

Where the hell was he? Callie was beginning to think he hadn't come home last night. She headed back into the living room and sat down on the couch once more. She wasn't sure what to do. If this was the Joe of a year ago she would say he'd been kidnapped. But, this wasn't the Joe of a year ago. And therein lay the problem. She didn't know this Joe. She had no idea where he could be, but it simply wasn't like him to stand people up, he had left a note saying he'd be a few minutes late, this was far more then a few minutes. Callie sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She simply did not know what to do. If something had happened to Joe and she did nothing she would never forgive herself, but it's not as though the police would take her seriously if she said that Joe hadn't come home last night. Callie mentally weighed her options trying to figure out exactly what to do. She could do one of four things:

1. Go to the police (they wouldn't do anything this early.)

2. Go home; pretend this never happened (definitely out.)

3. Go walk around randomly hoping to find him (Reality check: This was New York City, no way would she find him on her own.)

4. Go back to Bayport, get help, come back, find Joe (Joe would never forgive her for bringing their friends here. But what if Joe was hurt?)

It looked like there was only one feasible choice. Joe wasn't going to be happy about this. Not that she much cared; he would get over it, eventually. Callie grabbed her phone off the coffee table and took out her cell phone hurriedly dialing a number she knew by heart.

"Callie? We haven't talked in ages! What's new?" Vanessa's voice answered almost immediately. Callie sighed into the phone and prepared to explain to Vanessa exactly what had happened.

"Van, I have to tell you something…" Callie said softly wondering whether Vanessa would be mad at her for not telling her about Joe as soon as she saw him.

"What's wrong?" Vanessa asked noticing the strain in Callie's voice.

"I saw Joe." Callie said simply. Vanessa blinked at her phone not really understanding.

"Joe? My Joe?"

"Yes, he came into town last week and I saw him in that one diner where we used to go, and I tried to get him to stay, but he wouldn't, so I asked him if I could come visit him, and he said yes, and gave me the address to his apartment, and I was supposed to see him yesterday, but I got to his apartment and he wasn't there, and so I waited and he never came back, and I'm afraid something happened to him…" The words were tumbling out of her moth, and she knew she was babbling, but she couldn't stop. "And, I don't know what to do, Van, I think something might have happened to him, but…" Callie trailed off and looked at her phone helplessly. The line was silent for a minute, the other woman was clearly thinking.

"I'll be there in an hour, give me the address." Vanessa said trying to sound calm even as feelings of panic over Joe possibly being hurt warred with feelings of hurt and anger at him for leaving. Callie sighed in relief at the other's words.

"Bring the others."

"I will." Vanessa promised.

"He lives at Eleven-Eleven Devon Avenue." Callie added.

"Okay, bye, Callie." Vanessa said before hanging up the phone.

Callie sighed and looked at her cell phone considering the conversation. Her friend had tried to appear calm but she could hear the beginnings of panic starting to edge in. Panic and something else…anger? She wasn't sure exactly what it was. She would figure it out later, right now; she had to worry about what it was that happened to Joe. She stared at the door to Joe's apartment as though staring at it would somehow cause Joe to walk through the door. He had better be okay, or she would kill him herself. She couldn't handle losing another friend; she didn't think any of them could. They were all hanging on by a thread as it was, and if they lost one more person she didn't know if they would be able to move on.

**A/N Review**. **It's suppposed to get to -30 degrees here tonight/tommorow, and if it does, I have no school! Which means I shall spend the day writing chapters for this story, because this is the only story I update, (as those of you who have me on author alert can probably tell). lol.**


	12. Bonding Brothers

**A/N Hello. We're back to Frank and Joe in this chapter. **

**Thanks for reviewing!**

**Disclaimer: I own nada.**

Joe watched his brother absently as he lay with his back against the wall sleeping if only fitfully. The blond took in the dark circles under Frank's eyes and the way his clothes hung on his now thinner frame and wondered what had happened to him. He'd been gone for a year, dead, as far as everyone knew. Joe felt a pang of guilt in his gut; it felt like a knife has sliced through him. He hadn't looked for Frank, hadn't investigated his death, he just accepted it. Okay, so he went into denial, but he never actually did anything. There was no body. The police had concluded that Frank had been blown to smithereens judging by how close Frank was thought to have been from it. And Joe had just accepted it.

They had fought criminals for years, they had been kidnapped, tortured, hospitalized, and damn near killed, and not once had either of them accepted that they wouldn't make it out of every single case okay…until the cliff exploded and Joe threw that 'tradition' out the window. He wasn't sure he would ever be able to forgive himself for it. He had sentenced his brother to over a year of hell being forced to work for terrorists. Logically, Joe knew that it really wasn't his fault; that anyone who had witnessed what he had that night would've assumed Frank to be dead. But, Joe had never been one for logic.

Frank twitched slightly in his sleep and mumbled something before falling still once more. His brother didn't blame him. So, why the hell couldn't he forgive himself? Why couldn't he quench the feelings of guilt and anger when he thought of his own actions following Frank's death? He had been lost in a storm of grief and he couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on. Joe knew that he had been too mixed up to have done anything, and that even if he had thought Frank to be alive there was a strong likelihood he would've been unable to find him. Especially since everyone had thought him to be dead. The police had called it an open and shut case...his dad the _great_ Fenton Hardy hadn't investigated, hadn't suspected anything was amiss. And, still, Joe couldn't stop beating himself up for not protesting, for not doing something. He knew it was irrational, that no one else thought it was his fault…okay, his dad had blamed him…but that was just because he was grief stricken…right? Damn it. He was not going to do this, he absolutely refused. Frank was alive that was all that mattered, period, end of story. Whatever had happened in between Frank's 'death' and Joe finding out he was alive didn't matter, because nothing was as important to him as his brother. Speaking of his brother, Frank had woken up and was eyeing his younger brother with concerned brown eyes.

"Joe?" He queried softly. Joe ignored the inquisitive look his brother was giving him.

"I was thinking about it, and I think Callie will get someone to look into where I disappeared too, she's stubborn that way."

"That's my Callie, head like a brick," Frank said smiling wistfully as he thought about how different things could've been if he had just thought before he acted that night. He had always been the responsible one, the one who didn't dare step a toe out of line, and for one night he allowed his emotions to control him and look where it got him. Kidnapped. Forced to do work for terrorists. Hell, now that he thought about it he was basically committing treason. This was great, just fucking great, a fine mess he'd managed to get himself into. What was he thinking? Seriously.

"Earth to Frank..." Joe waved a hand in front of his brother's face jerking him back to reality. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"My thoughts are worth much more then a penny," Frank joked with a mock glare.

"Be that as it may, you aren't getting much more then a couple pennies and a piece of lint out of me, seeing as I dropped my wallet back there." Joe replied.

"Ever heard of a lint brush?"

"Sigh…it seems you've yet to get over your OCCD…" Joe said shaking his head at his brother. Frank groaned.

"You're not still on about this…"

"I'm telling you, you have Obsessive Compulsive Cleaning Disorder!" Joe exclaimed.

"Is that the technical term?" Frank asked sarcastically.

"Yes," Joe replied haughtily. "I mean, you use a lint brush, clean your room, make your bed, put away your clothes…what is wrong with you?! And to top it off you always had an organized locker back in high school! That is just not normal!"

"Just because some of us didn't enjoy getting hit on the head by ten pound text books every time we opened our locker doesn't mean that we have a cleaning obsession. I lived in the same house as _you_ after all!"

"I did not enjoy being hit on the head!" Joe exclaimed.

"Sure, sure, I do have to wonder though, did you get more head injuries from chasing criminals or opening your locker?" Frank taunted.

"My locker was the epitome of organization!" Joe replied.

"…"

"No really!"

"…"

"Don't look at me like that, just because you couldn't see the organization doesn't mean it wasn't there!" At this Frank raised an eyebrow.

"Uh-huh, because chucking your books in at high speed and slamming the door shut as fast as possible before they fell out again denotes organization and cleanliness…" Frank replied in a voice dripping in sarcasm.

"Yup, glad you agree, Bro." Joe said cheerfully. Frank sighed in a long suffering manner and rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. Joe's smile froze as it occurred to him that he hadn't smiled in ages, not since…since the incident, as he often referred to it. Joe shook his head forcefully clearing it of those thoughts. "Is it normal for them to leave you alone for this long?" There was no need for him to clarify who the 'them' was; it was painfully obvious to his brother about whom he had spoken.

"No, not usually," Frank answered. "Someone will typically pop in to check that I haven't miraculously escaped, fat chance of that happening, or to bring by some new assignment. They probably haven't been by because they're trying to figure out what to do about…" Frank hesitated.

"Me." Joe finished.

"Yeah." Frank replied awkwardly. Further conversation was put to a halt by the sound of voices outside the door. The brothers lapsed into silence and waited with bated breath wondering whether whoever it was would come into the room. After a few moments the voices ceased and the door to the room swung open. Joe felt his gut twist in apprehension wondering what they would do with him. A glance at his brother revealed that Frank wore an equally worried expression.

"The Boss has been thinking over our little dilemma," The man, who Joe recognized as 'Bruno' at least if they hadn't been using fake names during their earlier conversation, said. "And, he has graciously decided to keep you alive, you should be thankful."

"I'll try to control my gratitude." Joe answered sarcastically. He knew it probably wasn't the smartest think to mouth off to someone that was practically twice his side, but he had always been that way, speak first, think second. Fortunately, Bruno didn't seem to be all that smart, which meant he didn't pick up on Joe's sarcasm. Frank, however noticed it, and shot his brother a warning look.

"In fact, he has even been so kind as to find a job for you to work on," Bruno, or big brainless guy as Joe was fond of calling him, continued.

"What exactly is this job?" Joe questioned.

"You're going to be working on a very special project…you'll be right on the front lines, fighting for our cause." Bruno answered cryptically. Joe exchanged an apprehensive look with Frank. "I am not going to reveal any more for the moment. I am only to tell you that you will be remaining alive for the time being, until you fulfill your usefulness." Bruno continued. "Oh, Hardy," He said this time addressing Frank. "The boss has some more work for you, get up," He ordered. Frank sighed and awkwardly pushed himself up, his wrists still bound by handcuffs.

"You're going to need to uncuff me if I'm going to get any work done." Frank stated plainly. Bruno blinked at him before pulling a key out of his pocket and roughly grabbing Frank's wrists and jabbing the key in the keyhole. "What about Joe?" Frank asked.

"What about him?" Bruno replied.

"Uncuff him. It's not as if we have any chance of escaping." Brno paused and considered Frank's words before agreeing that the two didn't stand a chance in hell of getting past all the guards.

"Fine." He replied. "Come here, Hardy." He said nodding at Joe who stood up and held out his wrists to the terrorist/kidnapper. Bruno uncuffed Joe quickly before grabbing Frank above the elbow and pulling him out the door of the room and down the hall.

**A/N Review, I shall update as soon as possible (meaning withing the next two-four days), if I haven't died in Driver's Ed, because if I'm driving that's an extremly likely possibility. Apparently, how badly I drive is the central topic of conversation in my friend's health class.**


	13. Running Away

**A/N I am so, so, so sorry for the long wait, everyone. I've been caught up with family issues, and some school stuff. I finally managed to squeeze this update in. However, my beta has not seen this yet, and therefore all errors are my own, and it is also quite likely that there will be errors. Feel free to point them out, I'll correct them immediately.**

**Thanks to all reviewers!**

**Disclaimer: I own nada**!

Vanessa stared straight ahead out at the traffic that crowded the New York street. She was looking at it but not really seeing her mind was a million miles away reliving memories of a time long since past. She was dimly aware of Phil on the phone in the seat next to her speaking rapidly to one of their friends; she couldn't be sure which one. She had grabbed Phil and rushed to the car as soon as she had hung up with Callie, not pausing for even a moment to consider the magnitude of what had occurred. They had been caught in the traffic swell for upwards of half an hour and there was nothing to indicate that they would be moving any time soon. And with that thought she allowed herself to sink into her subconscious, recalling the last time she had seen Joe.

She hadn't told anyone but she had been the last person to see him before he ran away. She couldn't help but think that she might've been able to stop him, but when she saw him there and he'd looked at her with a look of utter helplessness, and pleading she had given in; despite the fact that she could literally feel her heart breaking in her chest.

Flashback

"_Joe?" Vanessa asked stepping in front of her long-term boyfriend and blocking his path as he stumbled away from his house with a single duffle bag slung over his shoulder. He tried to brush past her but she stopped him, laying her hand, fingers spread out, on his chest in a silent gesture to get him to stop. "What are you doing?" She asked apprehension oozing from every pore in her body as she met his eyes. He kept eye contact for only the briefest of moments before he glanced nervously to the side. _

"_I'm leaving." Joe said flatly his eyes now fixed on a point just above her head._

"_What?" Vanessa asked a roaring in her ears, she was positive that she was hearing things. He definitely had not just said he was leaving. _

"_I'm leaving." Joe repeated, speaking slower this time. _

"_I'll come with you." Vanessa replied refusing to acknowledge the possibility that he meant that he was going anywhere other then for a walk, to clear his head or something._

"_No, Van, __**I'm**__ leaving. As in, I am leaving Bayport, for good." Joe explained softly looking as though saying it caused him physical pain. He took a deep shuddering breath and drank in the sight of his house for a moment, memorizing every detail as he waited for her to respond. _

"_No." Vanessa answered. "You're not."_

"_Listen…" Joe trailed off abruptly. "Just for a minute, please." He asked softly when she glared at him stubbornly._

"_Fine." Vanessa agreed grudgingly. _

"_I- I can't be here anymore," He said stumbling over his words. "It hurts so much, Van, and my Dad he blames me for Frank's death, and I just can't stay here, hell I don't really blame him, I mean I know it's my fault…but hearing him say it…" He trailed off again and swallowed before continuing. "Please, Nessa," She stared at him unyieldingly. "Please, just let me go." He turned the full force of his baby blue eyes on there and she was forced to choke back a sob as she saw the raw pain that rested in the beautiful orbs. She could never refuse him. He offered her a small smile, and pulled her into a hug, her arms tightened instinctively around him not wanting to let him go. "I love you, Vanessa." He said pulling away. She couldn't let him go it was too soon, she pulled him back toward her and kissed him desperately wishing that she could keep him here. He broke the kiss after a few moments and pulled away from her. This was goodbye. "I'm so sorry, Van." He said finally and turned away from her and walked at a rapid pace away from her. _

_Vanessa sunk to the sidewalk as soon as he was out of sight. As she allowed her sobs to overtake her, she couldn't help but see memories, memories of happier times, when they had all been together…when they had all been alive. She allowed herself no more then ten minutes to cry over the loss of the love her life before she pulled herself up from the ground and walked back toward the house. She would keep his secret. She would let him go._

End Flashback

Vanessa had told no one of Joe's leaving. She allowed them to discover the truth on their own. She would keep her promise, she would let him go.

"Vanessa??" Phil's worried town broke through her thoughts. "Are you okay?" He asked. She took a deep breath and blinked several times finally realizing that the traffic had cleared and a line of cars was stationed behind her honking their horns to express their displeasure. The blonde glanced down at her hands and noticed that her knuckles had gone white from clenching the steering wheel. She methodically unclenched her fingers one by one and began to inch forward down the still crowded street. It occurred to her after a moment that she had failed to answer Phil's query. Said person was staring at her worriedly.

"I'm fine." She finally mumbled. He looked doubtful but didn't press her for further information. That's what she had always loved about Phil, he never pressed, he waited for you to come to him. "So, what did you find out?" She questioned pasting a fake smile on her face. Phil sighed but allowed her to change the subject.

"Well, I got a hold of Tony at Mr. Pizza and he promised to meet us…there, and he also said he'd call up Biff and get him as well. Chet got in the car as soon as he heard what I had to say, and he's on his way down. He's bringing Liz." Phil answered.

"Good, that's good." And with that the car lapsed into silence once more. Each occupant caught up in their own thoughts.

**A/N Review, please. I shall spend all weekend updating to try and make up for the long wait I left you with**.


	14. Recalling the Trial

**A/N Hello, my lovely readers. I have returned with an update.**

**Thanks for all the reviews! Specifically thanks to, kungfukitty2006, Valadan, Red Hardy, bhar, and ShinigmixGirl!**

**Disclaimer: I own nada, zero, zip, zilch.**

Joe strained his ears for the sound of voices hoping to catch some snippet of conversation that would indicate where his brother was and whether he was okay. Frank had been gone for over two hours now according to his watch which they hadn't bothered to take from him, probably because it couldn't possibly help him escape. He was grateful that they had left him with it. Besides giving him a sense of time, being kidnapped and having no idea of whether it was day or night was ten times worse then just being kidnapped, it also held sentimental value for him. Vanessa had given it to him for their one year anniversary and he had hardly taken it off since, excluding a few times when he broke his wrist and therefore couldn't wear it. Joe sighed and squeezed his eyes shut as an onslaught of memories hit him. He wished more then anything that he hadn't hurt Vanessa the way he did when he left. Deep down he knew Vanessa would always forgive him, he just wasn't sure if he could forgive himself.

The day he left Bayport had been one of the darkest days of his life, preceded only by Iola's death, Frank's "death," and the trial of Frank's murderer. When Frank's murderer came to trial Joe had gone to the trial and sat in the back of the courtroom behind a crowd of vaguely familiar people. His family and friends were near the front. The trial had been in New York City, as the defense attorney had gotten a change of venue on the grounds that everyone in Bayport was biased against her client.

Joe had needed justice; he needed to know that his brother's death would be avenged. If he had gotten that he thought he could move on with his life. But of course, that is not what occurred. The defense attorney was one of the best in the business, looking back on it now Joe realized that the Assassins had probable hired her to make sure that Reynolds didn't take a plea bargain and blow their plans. She argued that Reynolds was out of his mind and he had gotten sent to an asylum, not that this was particularly difficult to do, no one wanted to believe that another human being could commit the atrocities Reynolds had.

Joe knew the truth though; Reynolds was far from mentally incompetent. Because, while no one in his family had seen him sitting there in the back of the courtroom Reynolds had. And the man had the nerve to flash Joe a triumphant grin and wink in his direction as the police led him away. Joe saw red. The only thing that kept him from attacking the man was his desire to keep his presence secret. And, so, he quickly fled the courtroom in a crowd of people, managing to get passed the crowd of reporters waiting to ambush the Hardys and their friends. Joe shuddered to think what one of those vultures would have done to get an interview with him. The news of his leaving had made headlines for weeks. That was part of the reason why he had chosen such a low key place to live and work, not a big part, the main reason was that he had no real will to live after Frank's "death".

"Joe? Are you okay?" Joe's eyes snapped open abruptly and he looked into the worried face of his older brother. The blond furrowed his eyebrows and tried to remember hearing Frank enter the room. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it.

"I'm fine." Joe replied taking in the sight of his brother. "But, you're not…what happened?" Joe said noticing that his brother now sported a nice, shiny black eye.

"I wasn't fast enough for them." Frank said dryly.

"What were they having you do?" Joe questioned.

"Transfer files, just the usual stuff I have to do, but I think something's changed, they seemed more anxious. Whatever they have planned is probably getting closer." Frank answered. "I wish I knew what they were doing…"

"There's no hint in the files?" Joe asked.

"Not really, I mean it's mostly money transfers from bank account to bank account, but today I heard them talking about buying some kind of chemicals, I think they're planning a chemical attack somewhere. It's probably a big city…" Frank trailed off. "It's probably in New York! It all makes sense…before this we were in some small town, I'm not sure where but then the guy who was driving the car, I don't know his name, got a call and suddenly they were all excited. And we were getting on a plane headed to NYC. They have chemicals, and if someone's going to plan a chemical attack New York City is the ideal location, it's the biggest city in the country, and therefore they'd reach the most people." Frank said steadily paling at the thought of what they could be doing.

"We've got to stop this," Joe decided. He never thought he'd be trying to stop criminals again, he had given up on this sort of thing when Frank "died", and the blond had lost faith in the whole justice system.

"You've got that right, little brother."

**A/N Review, I'll update in the next couple of days, (ie. whatever day(s) I have the least hmwrk.)**


	15. Shadows of Memories

**A/N I am so, so, so, sorry everyone. I've been swamped with school and homework, and debate. (I went to STATE! YAY!) roflmao. Anyway, I am on spring break now and I shall try to give you an update every day this week. K? Forgive me, for the wait. This chapter is brought to you by the spare time I have as I wait for my Dad to pick me up.**

**Thanks to all reviewers!**

**Disclaimer: I own nada!**

Laura Hardy was a shadow of the woman she had once been. Her hair which she had once kept well maintained was now streaked with gray. Dark shadows permanently decorated her face, and wrinkles were beginning to make themselves known.

Her sons had been her entire life. Laura had doted upon them, allowed them to do as they pleased, trusting that they would be fine. She had faith in their seemingly endless stores of good luck and never for one moment thought that one of them could die.

She had been a vibrant woman once upon a time…bright, full of life; not anymore. Not now that her family was in shambles. Her husband was hardly ever home any longer, her sister-in-law had fallen ill and appeared to be steadily weakening, her youngest son had run away and her eldest was…gone. She still couldn't bring herself to even think the word dead in relation to Frank. Even though she knew that he was.

Laura Hardy's family had fallen apart right in front of her eyes and she hadn't seen it coming; hadn't saved them. And now it was too late, too late for them, and far too late for her. With one last sigh she dragged herself out of the chair she had been sitting in and headed for the staircase. She walked down the upstairs hallway determinedly ignoring the closed doors of her sons' rooms. She finally came to a halt outside the third door in the hallway. Laura opened the door softly so as not to disturb the sole occupant of the room.

The woman on the bed was sleeping; fitfully, but at least she was getting some rest. The older woman had aged heavily in the last year, and Laura was beginning to grow worried for the other woman's health. She had been acting as a form of nurse for her sister-in-law in the recent months. It had kept her mind off her grief and made her feel somewhat useful. Gertrude had fallen sick with pneumonia a month and a half ago and was still not recovered. A dry cough remained as a constant reminder of the ill-health that plagued her.

Laura quietly padded out of the room shutting the door gently behind her. The blonde woman paused for a moment outside the door to collect her thoughts before striding purposefully down the hall determined not to stop in her sons' rooms. So far, she hadn't entered either room since the morning Frank died to tell him that breakfast was ready. She had been in too much pain since then to give any consideration to entering their rooms.

She knew Fenton hadn't been in their rooms either as he seemed determined to pretend as though their sons had never existed. She knew that he still thought about them, however. She would seem him freeze occasionally when something reminded him of one of their sons. He let himself remember for only the briefest of moments but it was long enough to allow Laura to see the raw anguish and pain that crossed his face.

She wondered once more why Joe had run away. Fenton had claimed ignorance on the topic but she had seen a strange mix of emotions cross his face when she asked. Chief among them had been guilt, but why would Fenton feel guilty about Joe leaving?

Laura sighed once more and stared at the plain wooden door will herself to walk away from it. She had never entered their rooms, not even to pack up their stuff. She was terrified to do so, thinking that it would be the first step toward forgetting her children. She knew that could never really happen but it didn't stop the fear that consumed her. And, deep down she still held out hope that Frank was alive and that Joe would come home. She imagined countless times the two of them coming through the front door side by side. Unharmed, talking about how Frank had been kidnapped…again. What she wouldn't give for him to be kidnapped. At least he would be alive then. Swallowing hard Laura gathered her courage and grasped the bronze doorknob with damp palms, the door swung open with a slight squeak due to disuse.

Frank's room looked much as it always had, his bed was pristinely made, his books piled neatly on his desk, and a basked of folded clothes lay on the floor near his dresser; he hadn't had time to put them away, before he…left.

Laura lightly ran her fingertips over various knick-knacks which lined the shelves of his room. Among these were pictures of him with his friends and his brother. She chocked back a sob as her eyes took in a picture of her two sons. It was one of her favorites. She had taken it shortly after they solved their first case, they were both grinning broadly, Joe had on the reckless smile that had always meant he was planning something that would doubtless get him into trouble; in contrast Frank was sailing cautiously, clearly watching his brother in his peripheral vision. He had been right to worry about what his brother was doing considering that moments later Joe had procured a water balloon from behind his back and popped it directly over his brother's head. Frank had scowled heavily and promised he would get revenge.

Laura sank heavily onto her son's bed, her legs could no longer support her weight, as tears welled up in her eyes she couldn't help but wonder what had happened to her family. What had they done wrong that warranted this punishment? Laura glanced around the room one final time before getting up and exiting the room. She paused for a few moments in the hallway and decided that she couldn't handle entering Joe's room at the moment. She promised herself that she would gather up her courage and enter his room soon, but she knew she couldn't do it now.

On quiet afternoons like this Laura really missed her children…

**A/N Review, please. I will update tomorrow as I am on spring break.**

**And to all my Christian readers, Happy Easter.**


	16. Help Arrives

**A/N Hola, mis amigas, yo soy muy abburida, así que mi escribe cuentos y habla en Español.**

**Gracias!**

**Disclaimer: Angélica no tengo el Hardy Chicos!**

Callie Shaw watched as rain drops slid down the glass of the window. She remembered fondly "racing raindrops" as a child. Whenever she had gone on car rides when it was raining she would watch the rain drops make their way down the glass and pick the one she thought most likely to win, and then cheer it on. Sometimes the littlest raindrops would end up winning because they would merge with other small raindrops to defeat the bigger ones. Callie sighed and let the curtain fall back across the window with a soft 'pfft' sound.

She wished real life worked like that; she wished that she could that banding together would work to defeat a stronger force. But real life didn't work that way as evidenced by her boyfriend's and best friend's deaths. Frank and Iola had the support of their entire group of friends, and yet the evil of a few people had destroyed them. But then, nothing could beat death.

Death was supposed to be the great equalizer, the thing that conquered all people no matter what their age, gender, social class, or behavior was like. Callie didn't really believe that though, because it seemed to her that the only people who ever died, the ones who were continually drawing the short end of the straw were the good people. Never the bad guys, never the criminals. She had faith in justice once upon a time, but loss had destroyed her belief in fairness. Life wasn't fair.

When she was little and would complain about something not being fair, her dad would always respond 'life's not fair' he had said it playfully, but there'd never been truer words spoken. When she was little she had frowned when he said that not really understanding what he meant. But she understood all too clearly now. Callie forcibly wrenched herself from her thoughts as the sound of a buzzer being pressed echoed through the apartment. She glanced out the window once more and spotted a familiar head of ash blonde hair. Vanessa was here.

Callie headed out of the apartment and down the stairs to let Vanessa and Phil in. The other woman looked to be nearing her breaking point and so Callie pulled her friend into a tight hug. "It'll be okay." She said softly. "We'll find him, and everything will be okay." She didn't really believe what she was saying but she said it anyway. Vanessa didn't believe her friend's words either but she nodded anyway. Callie released Vanessa and pulled Phil into a hug. "It's been a while since I've seen you two." She commented as a large drop of water fell on her head reminding her that they were standing outside in the rain. "Let's go inside, hopefully the others will get here soon, we can't afford to waste time."

"When I last spoke to Biff he said that he and Tony were about thirty minutes away and that was fifteen minutes ago. They should be here soon." Phil explained as he followed Callie into the apartment building.

"Good, then we can get started on finding Joe." Callie answered. They then lapsed into silence as the other two took in the surroundings. They were headed up the stairs and they could hear the sounds of shouting coming from one of Joe's neighbor's apartment.

"Joe lives here?" Vanessa questioned in disbelief.

"Yeah, that was my reaction, too." Callie replied. "Anyway, this one's his." She explained taking Joe's key out of her pocket and unlocking the front door. The three lapsed into silence each caught up in their own thoughts of their friends and the direction their lives had taken since that fateful day just over a year ago. They were jolted from their thoughts by the sound of the buzzer echoing throughout the silent apartment. Callie sighed and volunteered to go let the newcomers in.

"Callie," Biff greeted. "Long time no see." He added. She smiled softly in response.

"Look, Chet's here as well." She commented pointing to were Chet's car was pulling up behind Biff. Both Tony and Biff turned to look in the direction she was pointing. "Well, it looks like everyone is here now. Let's go inside and we'll discuss how to proceed."



"I have decided what to do with young Joseph." A dark haired man stated in an emotionless tone from where he sat at a large oaken desk. His hands rested on the desk top the tips of his fingers pressed together.

"What, sir?" Asked one of his subordinates.

"We're going to induct him into the organization, his older brother Franklin is contributing to the technical aspect, so it only seems fitting that Joseph gets to play a role as well, and if he happens to meet an untimely end during his involvement with us so much the better; there will be one less Hardy to worry about."



TBC-Review!


	17. Plans are Advanced

**A/N Hello, people. I have returned with an update! lol. Things are starting to wind down so, updates should become faster.**

**Thanks to all reviewers.**

**Disclaimer: I own nada! **

* * *

He was just about to leave the room when a quiet voice halted him. Fenton had just stopped by the house to pick up some files from the office, and he had decided to stop in his sister's room to check on her.

"Why?" The voice asked softly. "Why, are you doing this to us?" Gertrude Hardy rasped out her voice barely louder then a whisper. Pneumonia had ravaged her lungs and throat and she had difficulty summoning enough breath to speak above the lowest of whispers. He didn't respond, so she continued. "Cutting yourself off from us won't bring Frank back," She paused and looked at him appraisingly. "It won't take back what you said to Joe either." She knew it was a low blow, but she said it anyways, because their family was falling apart, and she'd be damned if she sit back and watch it happen without at least trying to stop it. She was the older sister it was her job to take car of her family.

"Gert…" His voice trailed of uncertainly.

"It's killing her you know, your wife is practically drowning in sorrow, and yet you pay her no attention. She lost her sons, too." Her voice hardened. "Stop being so selfish, think about your family, yes, Frank meant the world to this family, but we're not going to get him back, so stop acting like a child, stop hiding in your work. Face the facts, Fenton. Find Joe. Apologize, reach out to him, bring him home." Her voice softened ever so slightly. "I can't watch you destroy yourself, Fenton. I won't do it." She sighed noticing the stubborn way his jaw was jutting out as he looked down at her. "Just think about it, okay?"

"Fine." He responded before turning on his heel and exiting her room shutting the door firmly behind him.

* * *

"Okay, based on the note he left me we know Joe left his house sometime before four p.m. yesterday, which is when I arrived. We also know he went to a nearby grocery store." Callie recapped. "So, we need to split up into groups and canvas the area looking for Joe, or…" She trailed off.

"Signs of a struggle," Biff supplied when Callie trailed off.

"Yes, we have to consider the possibility that Joe was kidnapped. I mean, this is Joe-the-danger-magnet, we're talking about. And, despite the fact that he is no longer in the detective business he could easily have run into trouble." Callie agreed.

"Couldn't he just be trying to avoid you?" Liz asked. "I know we don't want to think that Joe would run away again, but it is a distinct possibility."

"I don't think so," Callie answered. "Otherwise, he could've just given me some fake address and left Bayport and I would've shown up, not found him and gone home." She elaborated.

"So, we're going to hypothesize that something happened to him until we have evidence to the contrary?" Chet queried.

"Yes." Callie affirmed. "So, let's discuss how we should split up and where each group should look."

"Okay, well, since there's seven of us, we'll have two groups of two, and one of three." Phil supplied.

"Okay, let's see, how about Chet and Liz together," Tony said with a brief wink in Chet's direction before he turned somber once more. The other boy scowled at his Italian friend. "Phil, Vanessa, and I can be the group of three, and you can go with Biff, Callie." He added.

"Alright, now let's discuss where to look. Does anyone have a map of the area?" Callie replied.

"I do." Phil replied pulling a folded map out of his jacket pocket.

"Trust Phil to come prepared." Biff said with a grin at friend. Said friend unfolded the map on the kitchen table without response. Callie grabbed a red permanent marker from her purse and proceeded to place a large red circle over the spot on the map where Joe's apartment was located.

"We should probably check out Joe's work." Vanessa ventured. "Do we know where that is?" She asked.

"Well, I know it's some kind of small diner close by, but other then that, no." Callie responded.

"We could probably find the name somewhere in his apartment, he has to have like a name tag or something, maybe a uniform?" Chet offered.

"We'll have to look around for that." Biff nodded. "Although, with Joe's style of organization I don't know if we'll be able to," He said with a wry grin.

"Found it." Vanessa replied a hint of smugness in her tone.

"It never ceased to amaze me how you and Frank could always find Joe's stuff even in that disaster he called a room." Biff responded.

"It's called "Aunt Sally's", and it's located at 1235 Main Street, which is about two streets over from here." Vanessa answered. "It was on a piece of paper on his fridge." She added after a moment.

"Okay, so, who wants to cover the diner?" Callie asked.

"We'll take it." Tony answered. "I've got experience with restaurant folks after all." He added. Callie drew a red line from Joe's apartment to the diner, and wrote Vanessa, Phil, and Tony in neat, flowing script above the line.

"Where else are we going to check?" Phil questioned.

"We should probably just find the two nearest grocery stores and head toward them." Chet replied.

"It's probably the best course of action at this point." Liz said. Callie had already taken out the phone book was looking under grocery stores; she quickly pinpointed two that were just a few streets over. She marked them both on the map with the marker before nodding in reply to Liz's suggestion.

"Well, then, let's head out, shall we?" Phil queried. The others nodded in reply. They made their way out of the apartment, Callie locking the door behind them with the spare key Joe had left.

"Don't forget to call if you find anything." Biff stated before headed in the direction of the first of the two grocery stores with Callie following a few steps behind him.

* * *

Jonathon Marion was a no-nonsense type of person. He didn't tolerate mistakes, nor did he allow disobedience. He expected to be obeyed unquestioningly, and anyone who dared voice an opinion contrary to his own soon found themselves floating face down in the nearest lake. He had dark hair, and coal black eyes, standing at six foot three he was a formidable man. Currently, he was waiting for one of his underlings to report, he really didn't have patience for tardiness, but seeing as the man was only two minutes late he would forgive him…this time, anyway. The door to his office burst open.

"S-sorry I'm late, Sir." The brown haired, hazel eyed man stuttered.

"Report." Marion demanded ignoring the apology.

"The items you want are being moved to the government storage warehouse tonight, they're supposed to be shipped off to the government labs tomorrow so we need to get them tonight before they're in too high security for us to steal them without detection." The man recited.

"Indeed," Marion replied. "It seems it's time for young Joseph to prove himself." He paused. "I'm assigning him to the retrieval squad, if he gets in your way shoot him. Take Frank as well, but keep him in the van under guard, he'll be able to lift the electronic security measures on his laptop; he's gotten to be quite the little hacker in the last year. He hasn't gotten caught once yet, and that's more then I can say for the other hackers I've hired, though, it may have something to do with his background of consulting with the Network."

"Yes, sir."

"Don't return without the items I've requested, we need to get our operations moving quickly if everything is going to go according to plan." Marion commanded. "Now, go." He ordered. The man quickly fled from the room with one last mumbled 'yes, sir.'

**A/N It always seems so much longer before I upload it into the document. Anyway, review, please. The pretty, purple button gets lonely when ignored. I shall try to update at some point this week. It shall depend on homework load.**


	18. Finally a Clue?

**A/N Hello, peoples. Sorry for the wait, I've been swamped with studying for the AP test, it's next Thursday, and once it ends I'll have time to update. I really shouldn't even be updating right now…I have lots of stuff to study if I want to do good on the test, as well as a ten page essay to get started on. **

**Thanks to all reviewers!**

**Dedication: To whitetigers, for her awesome review. Speaking of whitetigers I need to catch up on her story (which is completely amazing, you should all go read it.)**

**Disclaimer: Angelica owns nothing other then (unfortunately) a small mountain of homework.**

"I won't hesitate to shoot your brother if you mess this up," Jacob Gustafson, Marion's second in command, informed Joe. Not that he would actually shoot Frank, because at the moment the elder Hardy was still of value to their organization. The younger one was slightly more expendable. However, Gustafson had always known how to read people, and he knew that Joe would not care about danger to his own life. Joe stated coolly back at him without response. Gustafson narrowed his eyes at the blond but made no further comment. Joe and Gustafson along with four other men were currently discussing tactics just outside of view of the nearest security camera. Marion had long since had someone map out the warehouse's blind spots in case Frank couldn't shut them down for some reason. Not that Marion thought it would be a problem, Frank never failed in his assignments…however, Marion did occasionally have to offer him some…incentives. Frank was in the back of the black van they had driven to the warehouse accompanied by two other men in Marion's organization. They were to guard him and make sure he did as he was told, while Joe, Gustafson, and the four other men broke into the warehouse and stole the necessary items. Gustafson fixed one of the four underlings with a hard look and commanded him to report.

"I have just received the expected message from Henrich," The man who was of medium height and build and appeared to be in his early twenties replied. "Hardy has disabled the security, we can head in."

"Alright, let's move out. Richardson and Brooks head in through the front entrance, take out any guards, make sure they're dead, got it? I want no witnesses. Signer and Bradfield take the back, again I want no witnesses. Joseph and I will go in through the side and obtain the necessary items. Meet back at the van in forty minutes. Anyone not there will be left, got it?"

"Yes, sir." All four quickly replied. Joe just continued to glare.

"Excuse me, miss?" Vanessa called to the woman at the cashier's station who was standing with her back toward the three friends.

"Yes?" The woman asked. "If you're here to eat then feel free to seat yourselves. And, if not, I don't have anything to say to you." She replied with a gesture toward the seating area. Clearly, she wasn't a social person. It was painfully clear to Vanessa why Joe had chosen this particular place to work.

"Of course we're here to eat," Tony interjected silencing his friends with a look. "We'll just sit down over there." He finished, leading Vanessa and Phil over to a both near the back of the diner. "She's not going to tell us anything unless we order, and besides were more likely to get information from a waiter or a waitress then her, she's the manager," Tony explained. They were rewarded a few minutes later when a waitress gave them each a glass of water and asked them what they planned on ordering. The three quickly made their orders. When the waitress returned with their food, Tony fixed her with his best smile, and proceeded to question her. "Does a Joe Hardy work here?" He asked. The girl looked at him suspiciously for a moment and hesitated to answer.

"What's it to you?"

"He's an old friend of mine, and we just came into town, and decided to stop by and see him."

"Oh," The waitress eyed him a moment longer before deciding that he was telling the truth. "He used to work here."

"Used to?" Vanessa asked.

"Yeah, _she _declared him fired when he didn't come in last night for his shift." The woman replied jerking her head toward her boss. "That's why she's in such a bad mood. Not that it really mattered seeing as half the time we have just as much staff as customers. This is the most crowded it's been all week." She added gesturing to the more then half empty restaurant.

"So, Joe didn't come in last night? He didn't even call? That's unlike him." Phil commented.

"Nope, not a word, which is odd, Joe's always been a good worker, a little on the quiet side, but he was polite to the customers, and they seemed to like him." She replied. Vanessa wasn't sure if the idea of a quiet Joe made her want to laugh or cry, she settled for nodding her head absently.

"Do you know where we could find him?" Tony questioned.

"Sorry, I don't really know him that well, he worked the shift before mine, I usually just saw him on my way in." She replied. "Anyway, I need to get back to work, here's your bill, enjoy the rest of your meal." The waitress finished moving away from their table.

"Okay, so we've learned nothing." Vanessa commented.

"That's not true." Tony replied. "We know he didn't come into work, and we also know that is atypical for him, which strengthens the theory that something happened to him, rather then him just wanting to avoid Callie."

"Hopefully, the other's had more success then us." Phil said.

Chet and Liz had located the grocery store quickly. Upon entering it they preceded to question every cashier on duty to no avail, none of them recalled having seen anyone fitting Joe's description. They checked outside the store in both the front and back and found no sign of Joe. Finally, they decided to head back to Joe's department and hope that the others had found greater success.

"Hey, Biff, look at this." Callie said pointing toward something on the ground near an alleyway, just down the street from the grocery store they were headed to. On the ground was the remains of a carton of eggs, a broken gallon of milk, as well as some lunchmeat, which Callie noted with disgust had several bugs crawling on it. "Someone dropped their groceries." She commented scanning the area carefully. Her efforts were rewarded when she spotted a watch on the ground a few feet away from the spilled perishables. "There's an inscription," Not that she needed to read it to know that it was Joe's. She would recognize it anywhere; she had gone with Frank to pick it out. The back of the watch proclaimed 'happy 18th birthday, little brother,' and form some reason Callie felt inexplicably sad as she read it. "Joe was here, this is his." She informed the tall blond haired man next to her passing the watch to him.

Biff nodded in reply to her sentiment. "Look over here," He said gesturing toward the street where there was a medium-sized oil stain marring the asphalt. "A car was waiting here for a while," He said grimly. "It could be the people who took Joe." He mused.

"Let's head over to the grocery store, and see if anyone remembers seeing Joe, we know he went there, judging by this mess, maybe one of the cashiers will have some information for us. After that we can call the others and have them head over here. We'll need to canvas the entire area questioning people as to whether they saw anything." Callie replied.

"Alright, let's go." Biff answered. "And, Cal," He rested a hand briefly on her shoulder. "Don't worry; we'll get him back okay."

**A/N Review, peoples, I need one more review until the big 100. lol.**


	19. Warehouse Happenings

**A/N Hello, peoples! I took my AP test!! And, now, I no longer have to care about school. Roflmao. So, I shall spend my time updating**.

**Thanks to all reviewers!**

**This chapter is a present to The Silent Rumble. (I traded it for an update on his story El Arte De Betrayl formerly A Deadly Dare.)**

**Oh, and thanks to ReneyC for finding that whole watch thingy. Your idea was muy helpful in explaining why Joe had two watches. Lol**.

**And finally, a special thank you to Miss Fenway my 100****th**** reviewer!**

* * *

"Did you find anything?" Vanessa asked Chet anxiously. He shook his head sadly. He and Liz had just arrived at Joe's apartment to find Vanessa, Phil, and Tony sitting at the table looking decidedly despondent.

"Maybe Callie and Biff came up with something?" Liz suggested in a hopeful tone. "It would explain why they're late. Callie's never been one for tardiness." She added. Vanessa perked up a bit when she said this and returned to boring a whole in Joe's kitchen door as though staring at it would make the others return.

Surprisingly, her method seemed to work, because not more then two minutes later Biff and Callie burst through the door looking excited.

"We found something!" Biff exclaimed.

"It's not much, but still…" Callie trailed off.

"What'd you find??" Vanessa demanded.

"A watch, and several broken bags of groceries." Biff replied. "Callie has the watch." At this Callie unzipped her purse and pulled the watch out of the zipper pocket.

"It's…the one Frank gave him." Callie explained. "Which is odd, because when I last saw him he was wearing the one you gave him; I didn't think he used Frank's anymore. Didn't it break back…?" She trailed off not wanting to say that the watch had broken during the explosion on the cliff.

"Maybe he was carrying it around or something, as a reminder." Tony suggested. The others nodded deciding that this was the most likely answer.

"Anyway, where did you find this?" Vanessa asked steering the others back to the initial topic of discussion.

"Right down the street from the grocery store." Biff replied.

"After that we went to the grocery store, and we found the clerk who checked Joe out." Callie elaborated. "She didn't have much to say, but she said that Joe left the store alone and that she didn't see anyone following him. She also said that the store was virtually empty at the time." She continued.

"Okay, so we know he made it all the way down the street before he was attacked…" Phil said in a thoughtful tone. "What was around the spot where you found the watch and groceries?"

"It intersected with an alley." Biff answered.

"What did the alley connect with? Was it for a motel? Or an apartment?" Phil continued. "Maybe Joe saw something he shouldn't have so they took him with them wherever the went." Phil suggested.

"We should go back there and question everyone in the building surrounding the area. Maybe someone saw something or heard something." Vanessa put in.

"Alright, let's take a break have lunch, and map out the businesses on the street we can split up again and question everyone in the surrounding buildings." Callie suggested.

* * *

"Keep your mouth shut, we don't want any guards running over here before the others have a chance to get rid of all of them. Don't get any bright ideas about escaping, either, remember what I told you." Gustafson muttered to Joe. "I assume you can pick a lock?" He questioned passing Joe a set of lock picks.

"Of course." Joe scoffed accepting the set of picks from the man and swiftly unlocking the door. Despite not having much practice in the last year (except the few times when he forgot his keys and was forced to break into his apartment) Joe managed to get the lock open in just over a minute. Joe chose not to respond to his comment about trying to escape, it's not like he'd do so, at least not without Frank anyway. Joe surreptiously slipped one of the picks into his pocket before flipping the container shut and shoving it at Gustafson.

The man responded by sending the blond a warning glare and waving the walkie-talkie he held in his hand in Joe's face. "You wouldn't want me to call Henrich, would you?" Gustafson queried. "No?" He asked when Joe reluctantly shook his head. "Then show some respect, it'll go better for you _and_ your brother that way." Gustafson then turned and led the way through the side door into the warehouse. Joe rolled his eyes at the back of the man's head and reluctantly followed him in. The two made their way through the shadows along the perimeter of the warehouse for several feet before Gustafson led the way through a row of stacked crates which shielded them from view of the front security desk.

_Not that the guards were really a problem. _Joe though as he heard the unmistakable 'pfft' noise of a silencer going off. Moments later he heard a body hit the floor.

"This is it." Gustafson stated gesturing toward a large wooden crate. "Help me carry this out."

Joe stared at the man trying to decide if it was worth it to get into a battle with him over this. On the one hand, this guy had kidnapped him, and was using him and his brother in his terrorist agenda, and therefore Joe thought that cooperating was probably the thing he least wanted to do. On the other hand, he was a terrorist…which meant he probably would shoot first and ask questions later.

But…it would be _so_ worth it to see his face if Joe refused.

* * *

Frank glared at the man assigned to guard him. The man, Henrich, glared back and tightened his hold on the semi-automatic pistol he held in his right hand.

"Don't get any ideas." Henrich growled at the brown haired former detective. Frank turned his head so that he was looking out the window and rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. Did the man honestly think he would try anything when it risked getting Joe hurt? He had been reckless once and, look where that got him. He had no intention of behaving in such a manner again. He didn't have Joe's luck, and therefore couldn't afford to risk what would happen if he provoke one of these guys.

He might do it if it weren't for Joe. He couldn't risk his little brother getting hurt. Especially when he had suffered so much the last time Frank had decided to be impetuous.

Still, it would be _so_ worth it to see the look on his face if Frank decided not to do his 'job.'

With one last sigh Frank returned to staring at the security footage he had rerouted to the laptop. It was a nifty trick he had picked up; the cameras were now sending the warehouse footage to his laptop instead of the computer screen's in the warehouse. In this manner, he could keep track of what was happening inside the warehouse.

He spotted Joe and Gustafson and frowned. Even in the grainy footage he could see the stubborn set of his little brother's jaw as he stood facing Gustafson. Frank sighed again, his brother was probably going to do something stupid. In all fairness, it was Joe's turn to get them in trouble, although, Frank doubted that even Joe could mess up worse then he did. Considering his screw up got him kidnapped and presumed dead for over a year.

Frank silently willed his brother to do whatever the man told him. Not that Frank was in favor of helping terrorists, he just wasn't willing to risk his brother's life. Not even for something as huge as a terrorist plot. He'd risk his own in a heartbeat, but not Joe's…_never_ Joe's.

* * *

**A/N Review, and I shall update. **


	20. Alarm Bells

**A/N Sorry, about the wait people, I was swamped with finals and essays and general end-of-school stuff. But the year ended as of friday and now I have an update for you. Updates shall progress faster now that I no longer have anything else to do, well, anything that I have to do, like homework. **

**Thanks to all of my fabulous reviewers!**

**Dedication:** **To whitetigers, I hope your computer is fixed soon, also thank you for you wonderful review, I loved it!! **

"Excuse me, but I was wondering if you've seen this man before?" Callie asked pointing to the Joe in the picture so she would know who she was talking about. The picture had been one that she had found in her wallet and it featured both Frank and Joe, it had been taken a year and a half ago about six months before Frank died.

"Hello, dearie," The old woman said cheerfully. "Is he your boyfriend?" She asked curiously.

"Oh, no, no," Callie said quickly. "He's the little brother of my…former boyfriend, Frank; he's the brown haired one right there." Callie responded pointing to the Frank in the picture.

"He's very handsome, it's a shame the two of you broke up." The woman who identified herself as Mrs. Hinson stated.

"Yes, it is…" Callie said softly more to herself then the woman. "So, have you seen the blond one?" She asked purposefully steering the woman back on topic.

"Oh, yes, it was the strangest thing, he went in the grocery store down the street, you know the one with that huge produce section? He seemed upset about something, which is why I noticed him, and then he came out a few minutes later, I was outside signing for a flower delivery at the time, I run the largest floral shop for the next two miles," She paused for a minute trying to pick up the thread of her story. "Oh, yes, and when he came out he walked for a few minutes, when these other three men came out from that alley over there," The woman gestured down the street toward the alley where Callie and Biff had found Joe's groceries. "And, he seemed shocked to see one of them, the guy was brown-haired, I only saw him from behind but he looked a bit like your Frank, and anyway, the two other gentlemen seemed to get in an argument with the blond what was his name? Joe? Yes, Joe, and then they led him to their car, he dropped his groceries, and then they drove away." Mrs. Hinson finished.

Callie pushed back the feeling of hope that burst in her chest when the woman mentioned a man who looked like Frank. The man couldn't have been Frank, he was dead, Joe was there, when he died, and Joe had even said there was no way he could have survived. "Did you happen to see what kind of car they drove?" Callie asked not really expecting her to remember but hoping that she would.

"Yes, actually, I wrote down their license plate number, because they sped out of there so fast that they knocked over several pots of my prized azaleas, their positively ruined now, I haven't had a chance to report them about it yet, but I will." She said with a decisive nod.

"Do you think you could give me the license plate number? It's imperative that I find my friend…"

"I suppose I could, hold on a second, it's in the back room." Mrs. Hinson shuffled to the tiny office in the back of her flower shop and retrieved the pad of paper that she had written the number on. "It's S89-4648." She informed Callie who scribbled it in the small notebook she had in her purse.

"Thank you so much," Callie said bestowing her best smile on the old woman before heading out of the store.

She met Biff outside; he had gone to the bakery next door to talk to the staff there while she had gone to the flower shop. They figured they could cover more ground that way. Judging by the frown on Biff's face she was willing to bet that he hadn't found much luck.

"How'd it go?" Biff asked. "I had no luck."

"No matter, I had enough for both of us."

"Really?" Biff asked visibly perking up.

"Yes, the old lady who runs the shop got the license plate number of the car that took Joe; apparently they ran into her azaleas." Callie said dryly.

"Anything else?"

"She…" Callie hesitated for a moment. "She said one of the men looked like…like Frank." Callie bit down on her lower lip to stop it from trembling.

"It's okay, Cal." Biff said pulling the blonde into a hug.

"It's just, I miss him, you know?" Callie murmured.

Vanessa followed Tony and Phil into the alley next to where they had found Joe's groceries. The alley was the back entrance to several buildings including a seedy motel, and a convenience store. She could feel herself becoming increasingly desperate to find some news of Joe. She needed him to be okay, living a year of her life without him had been agony enough, but knowing that he was out there somewhere hurt, that…that was hell. She was worried that he was giving up without the hope that someone would find him. From what she had managed to garner about Joe's current lifestyle, he was in contact with very few people. Therefore, Joe probably had no reason to think that anyone would notice he was missing, the thought that Joe's disappearance going without notice left Vanessa inexplicably saddened. Joe was, well, _Joe_, he was so many things to so many people, he was vibrant, and compassionate, and brave, and so much more.

Their first stop was the convenience store which yielded no information as to Joe's disappearance. Vanessa could feel despair settling down on her again as she steadily lost hope that they would find Joe okay. She trudged after Tony and Phil into the motel and wordlessly followed them to the desk. The clerk behind the desk was a man, he appeared to be in his mid-forties, his hair was receding from his forehead and he had at least three days worth of stubble on his face.

"Excuse me," Vanessa said directing the man's attention toward her group.

"Yes?" The man, Gregory Thompson according to his name plate, inquired.

"Might I inquire if you've seen this man?" She said placing the picture she had on the counter and pointing to the Joe in the photo.

"I might've." Thompson required running a hand over the stubble on his face. "What's it to you?"

"He's…" Vanessa paused she didn't really know what to call Joe anymore. "…my boyfriend." She figured that calling him her current boyfriend would lead to fewer questions about why she was looking for him then if she had called him her ex.

"Let me guess, he cheated on you? Probably brought the girl to this here motel and now you want to sneak up on him?" Thompson inquired.

"No! Joe would never cheat on me." Vanessa said firmly.

"Oh? He's loyal your guy?"

"Yes." Vanessa said curtly. "So, have you seen him?"

"Well, yes, a couple of my patrons dragged him off somewhere. They were real nicely dressed; it seems to me that they might've been enforcers of some kind, maybe for a bookie or something. Does your man gamble? It didn't seem like they were too happy with him, I saw 'em go up to him through the window. He looked real pale when he saw the one in the middle, and he looked all shocked."

"What did the middle guy look like?" Vanessa questioned.

"He was about an inch or so taller then the blond you're so hung up on, dark hair, sort of thin."

Vanessa couldn't help but think that the description sounded a lot like Frank, which she knew was irrational because plenty of guys matched Frank's description, and also, Frank was dead.

"Did you see what the others looked like?" Phil questioned.

"One was a bit shorter then the middle guy, probably about five-eleven or so, and the other one was quite tall about 6'2 or 6'3. The shorter one had sort of light brown hair, and the other one had black hair."

"You didn't happen to see what kind of car they drove, did you?" Tony asked.

"It was a dark SUV, but I didn't see the license plate or anything like that. That's all I know, now I need to get back to work." Thompson replied.

"Of course, thanks so much for all of your help!" Vanessa exclaimed before heading out the door the others trailing in her wake.

* * *

Frank chewed on his lower lip absently and stared into the monitor at his brother. He hadn't wanted to risk doing anything as it might lead to trouble for his brother, but Joe was just standing there despite the fact that Gustafson was gesturing for him to pick up one of the wooden crates. He needed to do something; he really couldn't let Joe get hurt. The best way to do that would be to direct their anger toward him. And…maybe if he set off the alarms in the building the police would be able to free Joe. Sure, he probably wouldn't escape, but if it meant Joe would be safe he would do it. And, so, Frank made the decision to activate the alarms. He glanced apprehensively at his guard out of the corner of his eye; he was absently toying with the semi-automatic pistol he held and not playing the least bit of attention to Frank. He hurriedly typed in the code for the silent alarms, which were a bit like the kind most banks have, they make no noise and alert the police to a robbery. The warehouse had them because they were in possession of large amounts of materials that were used in the construction of bombs. The warehouse was one that supplied the scientists which built bombs for the army.

Frank figured that he should give the police a few minutes to approach the warehouse before he turned on the full-volume alarms that would alert his kidnappers to his betrayal therefore dragging their attention away from Joe. Frank winched as he saw Gustafson lift his gun and fire a shot over his brother's head. He didn't have much time he needed to set off the alarms and now. Frank really wished Joe would just cooperate but it seemed like his brother had realized that they couldn't afford to kill Frank, and therefore he was only risking his own life. And, Joe had never thought twice about risking his own life if it meant saving someone else's, and if those materials got in the hands of Gustafson and Marion and the rest of the terrorists thousands would be murdered.

Frank sighed realizing that he had no choice but to set off the regular security alarms in order to stop Gustafson from placing the next bullet in his brother's head. He really hoped the police would get here before they managed to escape. _Hang in there, Joey. _Frank thought before he pressed several keys resulting in a loud blaring noise that echoed through the previously silent street.

**A/N Review!**


	21. At the End of the Trail

**A/N I've returned with an update for you, a nice long update, 3,662 words to be exact. The plot progresses quite a bit in this chapter.**

**Thanks to all Reviewers (ukfan101, Miss Fenway, whitetigers, kungfukitty2006, and Cherylann Rivers!!)**

**Dedication: To The Silent Rumble, for all his help on this chapter, not only did he write at least three hundred words for me, he bribed me with various updates and contributed ideas, and kept me writing this chapter long after I got bored and was going to stop and finish it some other day. lol.**

**Disclaimer: _"It is ludicrous to read the microwave directions on the boxes of food you buy, as each one will have a disclaimer: 'THIS WILL VARY WITH YOUR MICROWAVE.' Loosely translated, this means, 'You're on your own, Bernice.'"-_****Erma Bombeck. **

"Shit." Gustafson muttered angrily as the sound of the security alarms blared through the warehouse. "It seems your older brother decided to double cross me, well he'll be sorry, let me tell you, he'll regret messing this up. Now grab the damn crate and let's go, and before you decide not to cooperate let me remind you that your brother is in trouble enough without you adding to it by refusing to do your job." Joe rolled his eyes at the man's back before striding over to one of the crates and picking it up. He could only hope that the police arrived before Gustafson managed to get them out of here. Otherwise, he didn't like the way things looked for Frank and him.

They made it to the SUV just as sirens began to reverberate through the air. The driver of the car popped open the back of the SUV and Gustafson hurriedly shoved in the crate he carried before snatching Joe's from his hands and shoving it in as well. He then grabbed Joe by the arm and shoved him into the back of the SUV before getting into the front passenger seat and directing the driver to go.

They arrived back at the building they were being held captive in quickly, or maybe it just seemed oddly fast to Frank and Joe because they were dreading their arrival. Judging by the look on Gustafson's face they were in a world of trouble. Frank could only hope that they would aim most of their anger toward him instead of his brother, as he had been the one to alert the police. However, Joe hadn't on the whole been all that cooperative, which is what had prompted Frank to disobey orders.

Gustafson and his underlings hustled the brothers down the hallways of the building quickly until they arrived in the room they had been kept in previously. Frank and Joe were treated to approximately thirty minutes of abuse before Gustafson decided that he needed to report on the state of their mission and left them alone.

Frank sat on the floor of the room that they were being kept in looking over at Joe. Tear streaks ran down Joe's face. They had managed to get out of the warehouse without detection, and were now back to the hell hole they were being held captive in.

Over the past year Frank had spent many nights praying that he would be rescued, always hoping that his family had not given up on finding him, that they didn't really believe that he was dead. Frank had always held out hope that Joe, at least, would believe that he was alive, but now that Joe was here, Frank's hopes of getting found were getting slimmer and slimmer. If they had ever needed help in their life, they needed it now. He had seen what these guys did to someone who double-crossed them and it wasn't pretty.

The terrorists had apparently decided that Frank and Joe made excellent punching bags and had taken to hitting both of them. For the moment Frank and Joe had been left alone in the room they were being held in, while Gustafson went to report to Marion about the near failure of the mission. As it was they hadn't managed to get every single crate, and therefore could not make as many bombs as they initially planned, which meant that they either had to postpone their planned attack or proceed with fewer weapons. Frank was extremely worried that Marion would decide he had no use for Joe since the blonde had not done his job. At the moment Frank was fairly certain that they wouldn't go beyond taking out their frustrations in the form of beating him, as they needed him to hack into government website. However, he was not so sure that they would hesitate to kill Joe. Frank sighed and glanced sideways at his brother. Joe was sporting a black eye and was covered with bruises of various sizes and colors, Frank was also fairly certain that he had broken or bruised several ribs judging by the way he winced whenever he shifted.

Frank wasn't looking much better then his brother, he was fairly certain that they had broken his nose judging by the ominous crack he had heard when he was punched in the face, and the twinge he felt in his ribs when he so much dared breathe seemed to indicate that he had broken several ribs. Frank reached out and grabbed Joe's shoulder squeezing it lightly to get his attention. "It'll be okay, Joey." He hadn't referred to his younger brother by that nickname in God only knows how long. He only did it when things looked particularly bad for them.

-I am a line-

"Please, tell me you guys found something, Liz and I had absolutely no luck, either no one saw anything or they just aren't talking." Chet said.

"Luckily, we had a bit more luck." Vanessa said the ghost of a smile lighting up her face.

"Really, what'd you guys find?" Liz asked leaning forward across the table toward the other woman.

"We should probably wait for Biff and Callie before we go over what we found." Tony suggested.

"That way we don't have to waste time repeating things." Phil continued. They were rewarded when seconds later Callie and Biff burst through the door looking excited.

"I take it you guys found something?" Tony queried.

"Yup!" Callie said happily.

"How about you guys?" Biff asked.

"Chet and I didn't find anything." Liz spoke up.

"We found the motel where the people who took Joe were staying, and we talked to the clerk." Phil replied.

"What did the clerk say?" Callie questioned.

"He said that he saw three men walk up to Joe, have a short conversation and then drag him to their car. He said he thought Joe maybe had some kind of gambling debt or something and the people were bookies, so he didn't think much of it." Tony supplied.

"Joe, a gambling addict?" Callie asked incredulously.

"I know it seems laughable to us, but it's not like the guy knows Joe." Phil pointed out.

"What else did you find out?" Liz asked.

"Well, we got a general physical description of the men Joe spoke to. There were three not counting whoever drove the car." Vanessa mentioned. "One was about 5'11 with light brown hair, one was about 6'2 or 6'3 with black hair, sort of bulky, and one was 6'1 on the slender side, with dark brown hair." She glanced reflexively at Callie when she mentioned the last description. It went without saying that the last description matched Frank. Vanessa's heart went out to her friend, being apart from Joe for a year was hell, but at least she had known Joe was alive, unlike Callie who had spent the last year with the knowledge that her boyfriend was dead, that she would never see him again. Callie had looked down for a few moments after hearing the description before looking up and responding briskly.

"Anything else?" Callie asked her face showing no sign that she had noticed the similarities to Frank.

"Well, he told us we're looking for a dark colored SUV." Phil responded after exchanging a worried glance with Vanessa over Callie's response or lack thereof.

"Is that everything?" Chet asked.

"Yes." Tony replied.

"Did you guys find anything?" Vanessa said turning to Callie and Biff.

"Well, I didn't, but Callie struck gold with some old florist." Biff answered.

"Really, what'd you find out?" Vanessa asked excitedly.

"Well, she told me…" Callie hesitated. "She told me a couple things actually; she said Joe saw some guy…who looked like, like…" Callie hesitated and trailed off.

"She saw some guy who looked like Frank." Biff supplied softly when it became apparent that Callie wasn't going to continue.

"Callie…" Vanessa started only to be interrupted.

"I know, I know he's dead, okay? I know he's never coming back, and I get that, but I just, I miss him…" Her voice cracked slightly when she said this and she looked determinedly away from her friends. Vanessa considered trying to comfort her friend but Callie's rigid posture told her that any further mention of Frank was not wanted.

"What else did you find?" Vanessa said skillfully changing the subject.

"She got a license plate number!" Biff exclaimed.

"The lady said they ran over her azaleas, so she wrote it down." Callie said in a quiet tone. "It's S89-4648. I figured that Phil could probably hack into the DMV database and find out who the car is registered to, and what address as well, I mean, it's kind of a long shot that the address will be right, but maybe we'll get lucky." The tone of Callie's voice indicated that she seriously doubted they were going to get lucky. It seemed like all the luck in the world was against them; they had lost so much in the past year.

"No, it's a great lead." Phil interrupted. "And even if the address is wrong we can at least work on tracing the person the car's registered to. Besides, judging by what we know these guys didn't plan to kidnap Joe, I'm betting he saw something he shouldn't have so they took him with them, which means that they probably wouldn't have gone to the trouble of making sure their car was untraceable." He continued logically.

"I guess." Callie replied.

"All right then, let's get to work." Phil said cheerfully. "Luckily, I have my laptop in my car, but we're going to need to go somewhere with WiFi, because I'm thinking Joe doesn't have a computer."

"I saw a cyber café a few blocks down." Liz offered. "Chet and I passed it up on our way here."

"That would work." Phil replied. "Let's go then."

-I am a line-

"Let me get this straight," Marion paused, his dark eyes glinting dangerously in the dim light of the study. "I give you one assignment, just one, and you fail?"

"Yes, sir, but…" Gustafson replied, his gruff nature evaporating into a cooperative one around his boss.

"I don't want to hear any excuses." Marion replied harshly. "I want to hear solutions. What are you going to do to fix this? I need those materials, all of the materials, if I'm going to launch a successful attack."

"Sir, I understand that, but it was the Hardy boy, everything was going according to plan when he set off the alarms on his laptop."

"Which Hardy?" Marion asked softly.

"The elder one, Frank, but the younger one wasn't behaving all that well before hand, in fact, I'm willing to bet that the older brat set off the alarm in order to deflect attention from his brother. He also, probably thought his brother would be able to get away."

"Well, it seems that we will have to teach those two a lesson about what is and is not acceptable. I'm sure they'll be quite a bit more cooperative afterward. Although, I'm beginning to think that young Joseph is not worth the trouble he poses." Marion pressed his fingertips together as he thought. "Make an example of them." He said finally. "Don't kill either one; I will make a final decision regarding Joseph soon, before we move to our final location."

"Yes, sir."

"And, Gustafson…"

"Yes, sir?"

"Don't screw up again; you're lucky I don't have time to train someone else to take your place." Marion replied. "One last thing, I expect you to figure out a solution to our problem, we're leaving in two hours and I need everything perfect when we move to the lab. Got it?"

-I am a line-

"I found it!" Phil exclaimed. They had been seated at the café crowded around Phil's laptop for the last thirty minutes while he hacked into the DMV data base and searched for the license plate number. "It's registered to a shipping company by the name of Marion and Associates, specifically to a warehouse of theirs. I've got the address." Phil scribbled the address onto a notepad and pulled up Map Quest and selected 'get directions.' He wrote down the directions on the notepad as well.

"I know that area." Tony put in. "It's relatively deserted, it would certainly be the perfect place to hide someone, I think it's at least worth checking out, and it's not like we have any other leads at the moment."

"All right, let's go then." Callie replied.

-I am a line-

"It's time the both of you learned what happens when you refuse to do your job." Gustafson said his voice soft and deadly. "I promise you two things, one this will hurt and two you won't dare forget your place again."

Gustafson hadn't lied. By the time he finished his torment Frank didn't even dare contemplate stepping out of line again, and he had certainly lived up to his promise of pain. Frank turned his head to the side and squinted at his brother, Joe was breathing harshly and appeared to be unconscious, and a small puddle of blood was forming on the ground by him. Frank fought the urge to throw up. He was finally distracted from his morose thoughts when the door opened and Gustafson walked in accompanied by another man.

"Marion said leave the blond in one of the cells in the basement." The man, who Frank recognized as Bruno, said.

"Alive?" Gustafson inquired.

"Yes."

"Marion also said he wants to speak with Frank briefly before we leave. He said for us to grab the files and other stuff we're bringing with to the next location and head out. He'll follow with Frank. He said something about wanting to make sure a message sunk in."

Gustafson shrugged in response and bent down to pick up Joe's prone body off the ground. He exited the room with Joe in tow leaving behind one extremely horrified Frank Hardy.

-I am a line- (The place where Frank and Joe are being kept one hour after the events of the previous section.)

"We're here." Tony pulled his car to a stop; it had a second back seat and so was large enough to fit all of them.

"We're going to need proceed with caution." Phil warned.

"I don't know…this place looks pretty deserted to me." Vanessa commented feeling her excitement build as she realized she was quite possibly seconds away from seeing Joe again.

"Nevertheless, let's be careful, shall we?" Biff questioned. The place was less of a warehouse and more of a huge house type structure or maybe an office building. They first canvassed the building and found only one car was present. From there they decided to split into two groups, each of them entering through a different door, that way they would have whoever was inside cornered.

-I am a line-

"We've decided your punishment. We can see no use for Joe. However, rather then kill him ourselves, we'll leave him here to starve and dehydrate to death. The police should find him in about, oh, three years." Marion was forced to support the majority of Frank's weight as he forced him to look at his battered brother lying on the cold, hard ground of the cell he was being kept in. Marion had the basement divided into numerous small jail cell type rooms. It was in one such room that Joe was to be left. "Do not forget your place again, Frank, because I won't be so generous next time, be glad that it is only your brother's death that will be on your conscious, next time I may take out every surviving family member you have as well as your friends, and maybe even your precious Callie." Marion paused drinking in the look of horror that crossed Frank's face. "Oh, yes, I know all about them, I know where they live, where they work, where they buy their groceries, and if you dare disobey an order again I guarantee they won't live another day."

Frank was only half listening; trapped between the horror of the slow death his brother was facing and his desire to keep his remaining friends and family safe. "Kill me." Frank said finally. "Please. Just kill me."

"No." Marion said a small smile crossing his face. "I don't believe I will. You're of use to me Frank Hardy, and you will remain alive as long as you are of use." He paused for a moment. "Whether you like it or not." Marion's head snapped toward the door at the top of the stairs as the faint sound of voices carried down to them. He saw the shocked face of a young woman staring back at him before he heard more talking louder, more frantic this time. "Say goodbye to baby brother, Franklin." Marion said finally before half dragging, half carrying Frank to the back exit from the basement. He could hear people struggling to open the door at the top of the stairs. Doubtless, they had no idea about the second door from the basement. Frank seemed to be in a semi-catatonic state, too caught up in worrying about Joe to notice the people trying to get into the basement, or if he did notice he thought they were Marion's underlings who had yet to vacate the premises.

Marion dumped Frank in the backseat of his car before getting in the driver's side and driving out of the parking lot at top speed.

-I am a line-

Biff, Tony, and Chet finally managed to break the door down after several minutes of trying. Their entire group had gathered behind the door, while they attempted to break it down. As soon as the door was open they raced down the stairs to look for Joe, all except Callie who seemed to be in a state of shock. She stood there for a few moments before following after the others down the stairs. When she arrived she found them crowded outside a cell, Vanessa had produced the key to the small room and was working on unlocking the door. It was difficult to see in the dim light but Callie could tell that the figure lying on the ground was none other then Joe Hardy. And, judging by the frantic way Vanessa was jabbing the key into the lock, the other girl knew as well. Vanessa finally managed to quell the shaking in her hands enough to unlock the door; she immediately ran inside and knelt next to Joe.

"Joe, oh, Joe." She ran a hand through his hair paying no notice to the blood that began to stain her clothes as she sat there. "Joe," she said, her mouth hanging open, "What the hell did they do to you?" She asked as she stared down at him happiness at finding him alive mingling with horror at his appearance.

Joe seemed barley awake, but he was able to grunt out words that shocked everyone. "I didn't want to help them..." he paused to take a breath. "I knew…knew it was bad…I was going to say know…but Frank…Frank didn't want me to get in trouble…Frank didn't do what they wanted…they were mad…so mad…"

"Oh, baby." Vanessa dropped to her knees. "Baby, baby... Frank died, honey... He died over a year ago..."

"I saw him," Callie said softly. "Right before I screamed for you guys to come break the door down, I saw Frank, he's alive, some guy dragged him away, I saw him." Callie seemed desperate to convince them that she had really seen Frank.

Before he lost consciousness once more Joe turned his head toward Callie and said, "Frank misses you, he's not dead…I know you believe me…not dead…all lies…"

As Joe lapsed into unconsciousness once more Vanessa turned to the others, "I think we need to call an ambulance."

"I'm already on it." Phil replied, in fact, he already had the phone to his ear waiting for an operator to pick up.

"I saw him, he's alive, I swear I did, I know Frank, I know what he looks like, and he's alive, and he's hurt!" Callie insisted her hysteria increasing with every word.

"Cal, listen to me," Biff said gently. "Frank. Is. Dead. He died over a year ago, I don't know who or what you saw but it was not Frank."

"Yes, it was! I'm not seeing things, Biff, I saw Frank." Callie insisted. "Joe said he saw him, too."

"Callie," Vanessa said waiting for her friend's gaze to settle on her before continuing. "You did not see Frank, Joe is feverish, he's hallucinating, Joe's statement combined with the stress of the last few days and the description of one of Joe's kidnappers looking like Frank is making you think that Frank is alive. But, he's dead, Joe saw him die, there's no way he could've lived through that explosion." Vanessa spoke frankly hoping that it would get her friend to accept the truth.

"No, Frank's alive. I saw him." Callie said stubbornly. "I saw him." She repeated a single tear trailing down her cheek.

**A/N Review, and I will update.**


	22. At the Hospital

**A/N Hello, my lovely readers, sorry for the wait. But, I've returned with an update! Which, I guess you already know considering that you clicked the link and are reading this note. Lol.**

**Thanks to all Reviewers! (Miss Fenway, lucy62, franknjoe, whitetigers- I loved your review, it made me laugh especially your comments on Biff, and finally amblewat.)**

**Dedication: To The Silent Rumble, for his birthday, which was yesterday, but I wasn't home yesterday, so I didn't have finish the chapter in time to post it. Anyway, Happy Belated Birthday!**

It was sort of ironic really, Frank mused to himself. Joe had spent a year believing that Frank was dead, and right when Joe had found out the truth, he ends up dead. Frank wondered morbidly if his brother was still alive or if he had already succumbed to his injuries or dehydration or both. Frank shuddered as an image of his brother lying cold and motionless on the concrete floor of the cell he had been left in. Frank wanted so badly for the events of the past year to be a nightmare but he knew they weren't and once more he wished that Marion would just kill him and get it over with. He knew that he could refuse to do his job which would force Marion to kill him, but he would never do that because Marion had made it clear that he would kill ever member of Frank's family as well as his friends and Callie, and their lives meant so much more to him then his own, so he would continue to live even though every moment was shear agony as he lived with the knowledge that he was responsible for the death of his younger brother.

He had thought that setting off the alarms back at the warehouse would save his brother, but his plan had apparently backfired, because Marion had took Frank's disobedience to mean that he couldn't handle having his brother around and decided to eliminate the 'distraction' Joe posed. Frank felt a deep sensation of guilt gnawing at his insides as he realized that Joe would still be alive and well if not for him, if he had just done his job or if he had kept his head down so Joe wouldn't recognize him back when Joe had been kidnapped or even if he hadn't been so irrational a year ago when Danny had been murdered. If he had listened to his father and Joe and stayed away from those cliffs Joe and his family and friends and Callie never would have thought he was dead and then everyone would be okay right now. As he sat on the cot that had been provided for him at Marion's latest warehouse Frank couldn't help but wish for an end to the agony he felt, or at least for a way to rescue his brother; he didn't really care what kind of torture he went through as long as he knew that Joe would be okay, knowing that Joe was lying somewhere dying was worse then anything that Marion could do to him.

-I am a line-

"Should we call them?" Vanessa asked her face lined with worry. Since arriving at the hospital they had received no word on Joe's condition, and Callie had been sedated by hospital staff when she had continued to insist hysterically that she had seen Frank, they doctors were suggesting that Callie get a psychiatric evaluation but they hadn't forced the issue. Vanessa and the others were currently discussing whether they should call the Hardys as well as Callie's parents, because they weren't sure if they were sufficient to deal with the two of them especially Joe who was not only injured but also insisting that Frank was alive, but for now they were attributing that belief to delirium brought on by his injuries.

"Well, on the one hand, Joe probably doesn't want us to contact his family; I mean he did leave for a reason." Tony offered.

"On the other hand, he's injured and his parents kind of deserve to know where their son is, he is all they have left." Phil countered.

"Maybe we should wait until Joe wakes up and see what he wants to do, maybe he'll let us call his parents, and even if he doesn't its not like we can't decide to call them anyway, but we should at least consider his feelings enough to ask him first." Chet pointed out.

"I think Chet's right," Liz responded. "We should at least check with Joe to see what he wants to do."

"What are we going to do about Callie?" Biff asked.

"I think we're going to have to call her parents," Vanessa answered. "Or at the very least someone should drive her home, I think looking for Joe turned out to be a bit too much for her to handle, she's not anywhere near over Frank's death yet, and finding Joe like that probably brought up thoughts about how she's never going to find Frank, and so she's trying to repress those thoughts and it's manifesting itself in denial." She mused quietly.

"I doubt Callie will just go home quietly, she's going to want to talk to Joe first, and if he's still delirious…" Biff trailed off.

"I know, and it's not like we can force her home." Phil muttered.

"Well, technically, we could just drag her to the car and then start driving, but…" Tony trailed off.

"She would kill us, literally." Chet said finishing Tony's thought.

Spotting a doctor walking toward them, that they recognized as the one who had taken care of Joe when he first arrived from the ambulance, the friends tabled their conversation and looked at him expectantly.

"Are you here for Joseph Hardy?" The doctor, a man who looked to be in his mid-forties with graying brown hair, inquired.

"Yes," Vanessa answered.

"Are you family?" He asked.

"Joe's my brother." Biff interrupted. The doctor eyed them suspiciously but didn't question their story.

"Joe sustained a multitude of injuries which include two broken ribs, three cracked ribs, and severe bruising along his abdomen; he is also suffering from severe blood loss, and a mild concussion." He recited glancing at the chart he held in his hands for confirmation.

"So, he'll be okay?" Vanessa asked anxiously.

"He'll be fine," The doctor confirmed. "It's lucky you found him so fast."

"Is he awake?" Chet asked.

"Yes, he just woke up, and he's asking for someone named Frank, which one of you is that?"

**A/N Cruel, I know. Anyway, review, please, because it is my birthday, and that would be the awesome-est present ever. Guess what, this is the 22****nd**** chapter posted on the 22****nd**** of June! Haha.**


	23. Marion's Solution

**A/N Hello, my darling readers, I've returned with yet another update. So, read and review.**

**Thanks to all reviewers and to TSR for his help on this chappie!**

**Dedication: To Miss Fenway, whose mention that I could also write the 23****rd**** chapter on the 23****rd**** day of June prompted me to write this update, and also to the Silent Rumble whose bribe contributed heavily to my updating.**

She was standing outside his door trying to find the courage to go in. She had spent the last year wanting nothing more then to see him; to be with him again, and now she had finally found him and she could walk into his hospital room and see him, and talk to him, but something was holding her back. Vanessa guessed that she was afraid he would reject her again, and she didn't think she could take that. And, she also didn't want to be the one to tell him that Frank was dead if he was still insisting that his brother was alive. The six of them had decided that Joe was more likely to listen to Vanessa then anyone else, and so she had been the one sent to remind him about Frank.

Finally deciding that her desire to see Joe outweighed any other concerns Vanessa grasped the handle to his hospital room and opened the door. Joe was sleeping, which Vanessa found to be sort of a relief, because she could sit by his side and hold his hand and watch his chest rise and fall and know that he was alive, and okay without having to see his world shatter all over again when he realized that he had simply been delirious and that Frank was actually dead.

"Van?" Joe asked his voice sounding groggy as he tried to sit up in the hospital bed. She gently pushed him down and pressed the button to raise the top half of the bed.

"Joe," She responded, squeezing his hand gently. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too, but it'll be okay, we'll get Frank back, and then we can go back to Bayport and…" Joe trailed off when Vanessa held up a hand to quiet him.

"Joe…" She started her voice gently. "Frank died, don't you remember? You guys were working on a case, and that guy, Christopher Reynolds, set of a bomb, and Frank died."

"No," Joe replied stubbornly. "I saw him, and that's why they kidnapped me, because they're using him for some scheme and they didn't want me to start people searching for him again. I swear I saw him, Van."

"Joe," She wanted to believe him, she really did, but she had seen the damage the bomb had done to the cliff and she couldn't see anyway that Frank would have lived through that.

"I want to see Callie." Joe said abruptly. "Maybe if she tells you, you'll believe me."

"Callie….can't talk right now."

"Why?" Joe asked suspiciously.

"The doctors sedated her, she was becoming hysterical; she thinks she saw Frank." Vanessa answered.

"That's because she did." Joe replied. "I want to talk to her, can you see if she's awake? Please?" Joe asked giving her a pleading look that she had always found impossible to turn down.

"I'll check if she's awake." Vanessa said reluctantly.

-I am a line-

"Have you found a solution to our little problem yet?" Marion asked.

"I was thinking that if we can't get more bombs why don't we just make it so the ones we have are extra effective?" Gustafson responded.

"What did you have in mind?" Marion asked looking interested.

"Well, I figure if instead of placing the bombs in important landmarks we place them under the buildings, specifically, I think we should attach the bombs to gas pipes. We cans till put some inside buildings but for an extra kick we can maximize the explosions using the gas pipes."

"Excellent." Marion replied. "Now, how are things going with the young mister Hardy?"

Gustafson sighed. "I don't know what to do with Frank. Ever since he saw his brother he does the bare minimum required, he screws around and he's going to mess our entire project up."

"I have an idea," Marion replied.

"What?"

"Put him under the gas pipe when we explode something. Don't put him close enough to kill him, but close enough to scare him." He continued.

"He doesn't really seem to care about himself though." Gustafson pointed out.

"Then put someone down there with him," Marion paused. "Get his girlfriend, Callie Shaw, maybe if he realizes how easily we can get to his remaining family members he'll start taking his duties seriously."

"Alright, I'll take care of this personally." Gustafson said before turning around and exiting the room.

-I am a line-

"Callie?" Vanessa asked softly as she entered the hospital room they had placed Callie in while she slept off the effects of the sedative. "Are you awake?"

"Yes," Callie said turning to face Vanessa.

"Joe wants to see you." Vanessa said.

"Okay, let's go, where's his room?" Callie asked as she got out of the bed. Vanessa led the way to Joe's room; when they arrived they found the blond sitting up in his bed staring toward the door, apparently awaiting their arrival.

"You know Frank's alive, don't you?" Joe asked Callie as soon as she entered the room.

"I know, I _saw_ him." Callie said emphasizing saw for effect. "We need to rescue him from whoever that guy was that took him."

"He's some terrorist guy." Joe replied. "I never found out his name."

"Callie, Joe, Frank is dead, the sooner you accept that…"

"No, he's not." Joe replied.

"I have a suggestion," Callie interrupted. "We managed to find Joe didn't we? Well, why don't we do some more investigating and try to find out if Frank is alive, that way at the very least we find Joe's kidnappers, and we could maybe even find out Frank's alive, and you know how stubborn Joe and I are when we think we're right,"

"You mean when we _know_ we're right." Joe said firmly.

"You're never going to get us to give up on Frank unless we are one hundred percent certain that he's dead, and if we find out that he is then conducting this investigation will be like a last tribute to his memory." Callie continued.

"I'm not going to get you guys to give up on this, am I?" Vanessa asked warily.

"No." Callie and Joe said simultaneously.

"Fine, we'll check into it then, but not until you've rested for a few days." Vanessa replied eyeing Joe sternly.

"Fine, but we need to work quickly, the people who kidnapped me are planning some kind of large scale attack and we need to stop it from happening." Joe replied.

At this moment the door to Joe's hospital room opened and the doctor that had treated Joe and Callie entered the room. "I thought I'd find you in here, Miss Shaw." He commented. "I've ordered that you be discharged there are some papers for you to sign at the nurses' station."

"Alright, I'll be right back." Callie said before exiting the room. She was just walking past the door to the stairwell when it opened and a hand reached out pulling her into the narrow hallway before she could so much as scream. She felt something cold jam into her side and looked down to spot a gun.

"Listen carefully, Miss Shaw, you're going to come with me, calmly, and without a sound, if you so much as scream I will not hesitate to shoot you. Understand?" Gustafson ordered.

"Yes." Callie said tersely scowling at her captor.

"Then let's go." Gustafson said indicating that Callie should start walking down the stairs. He managed to get her to his car without incident. From there he shoved her into the backseat of the car covering her eyes with a blindfold and handcuffing her wrists, he then hurriedly drove out of the parking lot eager to get back to planning the attack.

**A/N Review, and guess what, this is the 23****rd**** chapter posted on the 23****rd**** of June. Woot!**


	24. Reunions

**A/N Bribery is a lovely thing isn't it?**

**Thanks to all Reviewers! (Cherylann Rivers, Miss Fenway, whitetigers, kungfukitty2006, The Silent Rumble, and last but not least franknjoe!)**

**Dedication: To the Silent Rumble, who bribed me with two updates for this chapter, and to Miss Fenway who mentioned the date thing, every time someone says that it makes me want to continue the pattern, the same goes for kungfukitty2006 who also mentioned that dates/chapter thing, lol, and finally to whitetigers whose reviews always make me laugh, and also inspire me to update. :) Thanks everyone!!**

Vanessa and Joe were beginning to wonder where Callie had gone, she had left to sign the release papers just over twenty minutes ago and they were starting to worry. Vanessa had heard, and Joe had experienced, the mountain of paperwork hospitals liked to hand out, but this was becoming ridiculous. Vanessa had tried calling the other woman's cell phone but had received no answer. She pushed down the trepidation that was starting to build up in her, she reassured herself with the thought that Callie, as per hospital protocol, had probably shut of her cell phone. At least, Vanessa hoped so.

"Maybe you should go look for her," Joe suggested worry filling his eyes.

"Alright, but I'll get one of the others to come sit with you, okay?" Vanessa replied.

"Sure," Joe replied. "Now, go find her."

Vanessa swiftly exited the room heading for the waiting area where the others were sitting. She rather hoped that Callie was with them. "Have you guys seen Callie?" She asked.

"She's awake?" Biff asked.

"Yeah, the doctor released her, she left to go sign the forms and that was over twenty minutes ago, I had hoped she was with you." Vanessa replied.

"Here, I'll call her." Liz said reaching into her purse to pull out her phone.

"Don't bother, I already tried that, she didn't answer." Vanessa said halting the other woman's actions. "Listen, I'm going to go check the nurses' station and see if she's still there, can one of you go check the cafeteria in case she went there to get a snack or something?"

"Yeah, I'll go." Tony volunteered.

"Oh, and can one of you go sit with Joe, while I'm gone?"

"Sure, I'll go." Chet offered getting to his feet. "What's his room number?"

"Six seventy three." Vanessa replied before turning and heading in the direction of the nurses' station

"Perk up Hardy, the boss had me pick up a present for you." Gustafson ordered smiling wickedly. Frank frowned and stared blankly at the man. He really, really didn't like the sound of that. Without waiting for a reply Gustafson opened the door fully and shoved someone inside. "Have fun." With that the door was slammed shut and the sound of a dead bolt being slid in place from outside the door thundered in Frank's ears.

The newcomer had landed hard on the floor from the force of Gustafson's shove. The person, a woman based on her profile, was facing away from Frank, there was something about her that seemed awfully familiar but he couldn't figure out what it was. "Miss?" He prompted.

Callie froze at the sound of the voice behind her. She'd know it anywhere; she turned slowly to face the source of the voice. "Frank!" She launched herself across the room at him. "I thought you were dead, and then back when we found Joe I saw you, I knew I saw you, but everyone thought I was insane, but I really did see you, and you're alive, and I really missed you." With that she proceeded to squeeze the living daylights out of him; she was deliriously happy that he was alive and yet tears were rapidly sliding down her face and she wasn't sure why because Frank was right in front of her alive, and that was all she'd wanted in the past year.

"Shh, it's okay," Frank said calming her seemingly not noticing her mention of finding Joe. After a few minutes she regained her composure and Frank decided she was calm enough for him to question her about her presence. "How did you get here?"

"I was at the hospital with Joe and I went to sign my release papers because I had been sedated because…"

"Wait, Joe's alive?" Frank asked excitedly.

"Oh, yes," Callie responded realizing that he hadn't seen them trying to break into the basement to rescue Joe.

"Is he okay?" Frank asked anxiously.

"He's fine." Callie reassured him. "Just a couple of broken ribs, a mild concussion and some blood loss."

"I was so worried that he was going to die, and it would be all my fault and," Frank paused seemingly realizing why they had brought Callie here. "Oh, no." Frank exclaimed sounding horrified.

"What?" Callie asked anxiously.

"I think, they're planning to use you to get me to cooperate with them, they're planning this huge terrorist attack on New York, and I'm supposed to be helping them because I know the passwords to many of the government website and the ones I don't know I can hack into. And, faking my death would raise fewer alarms then if they tried it with a government agent, seeing as the ones that know as many passwords as I do are mostly Network operatives, and if anything happened to them the investigation would me much more thorough." Frank replied. "And, after I thought Joe was dead I stopped caring about whether I lived and they told me that if I didn't cooperate they would kill everyone I have left and they specifically mentioned you. I'm sorry I got you into this, Callie." Frank said his warm brown eyes looking haunted.

"It's not your fault." Callie said firmly. "And I'm not going to listen to you say it is." She continued. "Besides, we need to stay hopeful, before I was taken, Joe and I had convinced Vanessa that we needed to search for you and see if you really were dead. Everyone thought that we were delusional, but we ganged up on her and she agreed. They'll find us." Callie said firmly. "We found you once, didn't we? And, we even have a name, the car that kidnapped Joe led to a company called Marion and Associates, so they'll look up this Marion guy and they'll find us." She finished. They stopped talking abruptly when the sound of the deadbolt outside the door being loosened echoed in the small room. The two turned to stare apprehensively at the door, which swung open to reveal Marion who was flanked by Gustafson both sporting identical smirks.

**A/N It's the 24th chapter posted on the 24th of June! Woot! And, yes, I do feel the need to say that every time I update and it matches the pattern. lol. Review, please!**


	25. The Search Begins

**A/N Hello, my lovely readers, I've returned on the 25****th**** to give you the 25****th**** chapter, lol.**

**Thanks to all reviewers!**

**Dedication: To all my wonderful reviewers: kungfukitty2006, ukfan101, franknjoe, Cherylann Rivers, whitetigers, and Miss Fenway.**

**Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue.**

"Excuse me," Vanessa said drawing the attention of the sole nurse at the nurses' station. "Has Callie Shaw been here to sign her release papers?"

"No," The nurse replied looking up from the stack of charts in front of her. "Dr. Williams said to get the papers ready for her over half an hour ago, and she hasn't shown up. If you see her send her to the nurses' station to fill out her paperwork."

"Oh, okay, thanks." Vanessa said absently before heading in the direction of Joe's room.

"Any luck?" Chet asked immediately when Vanessa entered the room.

"No, and I'm starting to get really worried, you don't think anything happened to her, do you?" Vanessa responded.

"I hope not," Joe responded frowning in thought. "Did you guys try having her paged over the hospital intercom? I'm sure you could find someone to do it."

"No, okay , I'll go try that." Vanessa responded heading out the door again leaving Joe and chet staring after her worriedly.

-I am a line-

"I had them page her, but she didn't show up, I waited by the nurses' station for over ten minutes." Vanessa announced when she came back in the room. "And, I checked with the others, and Tony said she wasn't in the cafeteria, I'm really worried that something happened to her."

"Normally, I would think we're panicking a bit too soon, but…I have this feeling that something happened to her, and it's really not like Callie to be out of touch, and since when has she ever turned off her phone?" Joe asked. "The Callie I knew a year ago was practically super glued to her cell phone, I don't remember her turning it off whenever she visited Frank or I in the hospital before and even if she did she would tell someone before she went wandering off." He continued.

"I know, it doesn't look good." Chet replied.

"I know that neither one of you believe that I saw Frank, but I did, and when I was kidnapped they planned to use me as leverage against Frank, but I proved to be too much for them to handle, they probably thought that Callie would be a good threat to hold over Frank and a lot easier to control." Joe said earnestly. "Just listen and I'll tell you everything Frank told me, okay? And then, you can decide 

whether you want to believe me or not." He paused for a moment. "Maybe you should get the others so that I don't have to repeat the story, it's fairly long."

"I'll go get them," Chet volunteered rising from his seat at Joe's bedside and heading out the door. He returned several minutes later with Biff, Liz, Tony, and Phil.

"Go ahead, Joe." Vanessa prompted when everyone had settled themselves on various chairs or in Vanessa's case on the foot of Joe's bed.

"As I was telling Vanessa I think the people who kidnapped me took Callie, they belong to some kind of terrorist organization and they're planning an attack on New York City, they staged Frank's death because they needed someone who both knew government passwords and had the capabilities to hack into other websites and accounts. The only other people with that kind of knowledge are very high up government agents and if anything happened to them there would be a large scale investigation, but no one would think that Frank would be kidnapped for something like that. So, they started murdering the children to distract the police and eventually killed Danny because they knew it would make Frank think irrationally, from there Reynolds tied Frank to a rock and then dragged me down the mountain so that I wouldn't be close enough to see one of the other terrorists sneak up from the other end of the cliff and cut Frank loose just before the explosion." Joe explained to his thunderstruck audience.

"Okay, assuming Frank is alive, why did they kidnap you?" Biff asked.

"I had gone to get groceries, because I didn't have anything in my house that was remotely digestible, and on my way home I bumped into Frank, he was with these two men, who work for the head guy, and I knew it was Frank, he tried to deny it, but I knew it was him, and then the two guys with him grabbed me and took me with them, because they couldn't have word getting out that he was alive when they were in the middle of planning their attack." Joe explained.

"So, they took Callie to use as leverage against Frank?" Tony confirmed.

"It looks that way. Phil, is there any way you could hack into the hospital security footage and see if there are any recordings of Callie being kidnapped? You should probably start with the footage from this floor." Joe asked.

"I'll be right back; I've got to go get it from the car." Phil said getting up from his seat and exiting the room. He returned around ten minutes later with his laptop. He quickly located a plug and proceeded to load his computer from there his fingers were a blur of movement on the keyboard as he hacked into the hospital mainframe. After around fifteen minutes he managed to pull up the security tapes from an hour ago. He pulled up the recording of the hallway outside of Joe's room and they watched the screen waiting for Callie to appear. After a few minutes they saw Dr. Williams enter the room and shortly after that Callie emerged. They watched the woman head down the hallway obviously going toward the nurses' station until a door shot open and Callie was grabbed and dragged into whatever room it led too.

"Can you slow down the footage?" Joe asked. Phil nodded and hit several keys.

"That should do it." Phil said.

"Look! Do you see that guy?" Joe asked pointing to a barely visible figure on the screen. Phil had pressed pause when Joe spoke. "That's Marion's second in command." Joe explained.

"So, we hunt down this Marion guy and we find Callie and Frank?" Chet asked having reached the conclusion that Frank was alive.

"Yes." Joe responded. "I don't think we can do much while I'm in the hospital, but Dr. Williams said he's releasing me tomorrow and then we can really get to work. In the meantime though, can you try to get any information you can on Marion?" Joe asked directing his question to Phil.

"Yes, I'll start on it right away." Phil replied immediately. He really hoped that they would manage to find Frank, it seemed too good to be true that his friend had survived the explosion but he severely doubted that Joe could hallucinate anything on such a large scale especially when the doctor had said his concussion was only mild.

The door to Joe's hospital room opened at that point and a nurse entered. "I'm sorry but you're all going to have to leave now visiting hours are over."

"Alright, bye, Joe." Vanessa responded bending down to hug him before exiting the room. The others echoed her goodbye before following her out the door.

**A/N Review the 25****th**** chapter written on the 25****th**** of June. **


	26. The Search Continues

**A/N I almost didn't think I was going to get this chappie finished today, I was at the pool until after six and then I ate dinner and then I had the choice between updating and baking cookies and I hadn't baked anything in a while and my mom had just gone shopping and well I like to bake. You know, I like baking a lot more then cooking, baking is a science as the saying goes, if you do everything as instructed it should turn out perfectly…and I'm rambling aren't I? Okay, well, onto the story. Lol.**

**Thanks to all reviewers!**

**Disclaimer: I own nada.**

"Did you get her?" Marion asked without preamble when Gustafson walked through the door to his office.

"Yes, I put her in with Frank."

"I trust there was no trouble getting Miss Shaw?" Marion asked idly leaning back in his office chair.

"No, I just grabbed her and dragged her into a stairwell when she walked by, but I found out some interesting news." Gustafson replied.

"Oh?" Marion asked sounding mildly interested.

"Joe Hardy didn't die; his little friends probably found him or someone called the police." The other man replied sounding as though he regretted this fact and he probably did.

"His prognosis?" Marion asked.

"He's expected to be fine, in fact they're all set to release him in a day or so."

"No matter, the important thing is that he's not here to distract young Franklin, and we still have Miss Shaw to keep him in line, she should be considerably easier to manage and since she is of no practical use for her we can just keep her locked up for the most part." Marion responded. "Are we ready to progress with our plans?"

"We should be ready to go in about three days," Gustafson answered. "So far there's been no indication that any government officials are onto are plans, and it doesn't seem like Hardy or his friends have bothered contacting the police, everything looks good."

"Excellent." Marion answered a maniacal smirk spreading across his face.

-Two days Earlier at the Hardy Home-

Fenton Hardy drummed his fingers against the tabletop of his office desk; his sister had given him a lot to think about and he had mulled over her words for the better part of the last few days. He knew he was wrong when he had hit Joe and blamed Frank's death on him, and he knew that he would never gain anything by continuing to live his life in his current fashion. He was hardly home anymore and when he was he made a point of shutting himself in his office. He knew he was hurting Laura and Gertrude and probably himself as well but he couldn't get past the overwhelming guilt he felt when he thought of how he had failed his family. He hadn't paid enough attention to his children and he had allowed them to get hurt and because of that his wife had lost her sons.

Gertrude's words echoed in his ears: _"Stop being so selfish, think about your family, yes, Frank meant the world to this family, but we're not going to get him back, so stop acting like a child, stop hiding in your work. Face the facts, Fenton. Find Joe. Apologize, reach out to him, bring him home." _When she had first told him to stop wallowing in his misery he had determinedly ignored her, but the more he thought about it the more he realized that she was right.

Fenton Hardy was nothing if he was not a good private investigator. And he rather doubted that Joe had bothered to put that much effort into concealing his whereabouts. It might take some time but he would find his son, and he would apologize and bring him home. Fenton would try to salvage the remnants of his family no matter how difficult it was going to be. He owed it to them, he owed it to Frank, who he knew wouldn't want to see his family falling apart like they were. He needed to make up for pushing Joe away; he needed to bring him home.

-I am a line-

"Have you found anything on Marion?" Joe asked when Phil walked into his hospital room accompanied by Vanessa.

"What no hello?" Vanessa teased.

"Oh, hey." Joe responded before repeating his question. "So, did you find anything?"

"I've got a list of addresses, he owns warehouses and businesses all over the world, but I narrowed them down to just the New York places, he owns twenty places in New York, four of them are in the city, I'm going to guess that it's more likely he's in the city because if they're planning an attack they'd probably want to be close." Phil responded.

"So, we've just got to go to these four places and hope that he's at one." Joe stated. "We've got to move quickly though, they're planning to launch their attacks within the week." Joe continued. "We should start today. I'm supposed to be released today, so once I get signed out we'll head back to my apartment split up to search for signs of Frank and Callie at the locations, and then meet back at my apartment before we take any definitive action. These people are dangerous we can't storm in there on our own we'll only end up getting captured right along with them." Joe continued.

-I am a line-

"Okay, we have four locations and there are seven of us." Joe stated. "How are we going to split this up?"

"We can't send anyone alone, it's too dangerous." Vanessa responded.

"But, we do need to cover all of these locations, and we are working on a very limited time span. What we really need is an eight person." Phil pointed out.

"Yeah, but where are we going to get an eighth person?"

**A/N I know it's kind of short but it needs to end there because I want the entire search to take place in the next chapter, anyway review the 26****th**** chapter written on the 26****th**** day of June. **


	27. The Eighth Person

**A/N Hello, my lovely readers, I didn't think I was going to get this done because I'm having a sleepover tonight for my birthday it starts in twenty minutes so I finished just in time. lol.**

**Thanks to all Reviewers!**

**Dedication: To whitetigers who was the only one who figured out who person number eight is.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

Last Chapter:

"_Okay, we have four locations and there are seven of us." Joe stated. "How are we going to split this up?"_

"_We can't send anyone alone, it's too dangerous." Vanessa responded._

"_But, we do need to cover all of these locations, and we are working on a very limited time span. What we really need is an eight person." Phil pointed out._

"_Yeah, but where are we going to get an eighth person?"_

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of Joe's doorbell ringing. "I should get that." Joe said after a moment.

"I'll go answer it, you just got out of the hospital and if we're going to be traipsing all over New York in a little while you might as well rest as much as you can." Vanessa replied getting up and exiting the apartment before Joe had a chance to protest.

The person she found outside the security door to Joe's apartment building made her stop and stare for several moments before letting him in. He seemed to be just as surprised to find her at Joe's apartment as she was to see him. "Mr. Hardy?" Vanessa asked confusedly.

"Vanessa? I was under the impression that Joe didn't talk to anyone anymore." Fen ton replied sounding puzzled.

"He doesn't or didn't but then Callie found him, anyway, it's a really long story, I'll let Joe tell you about it." Vanessa replied. "Follow me; his apartment is on the third floor." Vanessa said leading the way up the apartment's staircase. When they reached the hallway outside Joe's door Vanessa drew to a halt causing Fenton to stop as well. "I should probably tell him you're here first."

"I'll wait." Fenton replied. Vanessa nodded and slipped into the apartment shutting the door behind her.

"Who was at the door?" Joe asked when she walked in.

"Joe, your dad is here." Vanessa replied. "He's outside the door, I told him to wait a minute while I told you."

Joe looked indecisive for a minute before nodding and answering. "Let him in."

-I am a line-

"Are you enjoying your present, Mr. Hardy?" Marion inquired his tone deceptively pleasant. Frank scowled but didn't otherwise respond. "Now, now, is that anyway to treat the man who so kindly brought your lovely girlfriend to you?" He continued his tone remaining light despite the cold look in his dark eyes. "We've been discussing your current state of mind regarding your position here." Marion said speaking as though Frank actually worked for him and hadn't been kidnapped and forced to work for him.

"And?" Frank asked sounding bored even as he watched his captors worriedly.

"We've decided that you need to learn a lesson, you see we'll be leaving the country after we finish our big project in two days and then you'll be involved in many other international matters and we can't have you messing this up." Marion replied. "Let's just say you're going to get a front row seat to the execution of our project." He continued. "I'll leave you to think about that." Marion finished before turning on his heel and leaving the room Gustafson railing after him.

-I am a line-

"Come in." Vanessa said opening the door and gesturing for Fenton to enter the small apartment.

"Thank you." Fenton said before turning his attention to Joe who looked to be quite the worse for wear. "Can I talk to you in private?" He asked this time addressing Joe.

"We can talk in my room." Joe responded without meeting his father's eyes. Joe led the way into his bedroom and gestured for Fenton to shut the door behind him. "How did you find me?" Joe asked.

"I did some standard detective work that I should have done months ago." Fenton answered. "But that's not important," He paused before continuing. "What is important is that I was wrong to blame Frank's death on you, I never should've hit you or said that it was your fault that Frank died. I'm sorry I didn't stop you from leaving, and I'm sorry I didn't try harder to reinforce how dangerous it would be for the two of you to go on those cliffs. The truth is that it was my fault not yours, I failed you as a father, Joe and I'm really sorry, I hope you can forgive me." Fenton finished anguish filling his brown eyes which looked so much like Frank's.

Joe paused before answering seemingly struggling with whether or not to forgive his father. "It's okay," Joe replied. "I've had some time to think it over, and I know that you were upset about Frank, it still upset me, but I'm ready to get past it. But, we can talk about that later, there are more important things to discuss." Joe finished.

"Like what happened to you?" Fenton asked gesturing to the bruises covering Joe's face.

"Well, that's part of it." Joe responded. "It's kind of a long story, so I'm going to start with when I saw Callie. I went back to Bayport about two weeks ago, because I wanted to see if I made the right choice by leaving, and I ran into Callie while I was there, I tried to pretend that I didn't know her but she recognized me and insisted on coming to visit me, she was supposed to come last Thursday, I realized I didn't have anything edible in my fridge for us to eat while we caught up so I went to the grocery store when I was leaving I bumped into three people and one of them, this is going to sound ridiculous but one of them was Frank, and I recognized him, so the two guys he was with kidnapped me and shoved me in their SUV."

"Frank's alive?" Fenton asked hoarsely.

"Yes." Joe replied. "And, when we were kidnapped together he told me that some guy dragged him off the cliff right before the bomb exploded, Frank's murder was staged by a group of terrorists because as you know he knows the passwords to several government websites, and faking Frank's death would result in less investigation then killing an actual government official." Joe continued. "And, they're planning some huge attack in the city in the next few days."

"Disregarding the attack for now how did you get loose?"

"They decided that I was too much of a distraction for Frank so they left me at their previous location when they switched. I was supposed to die there, but obviously that didn't work out for them because Callie, Phil, Vanessa and the others managed to track me down and they called an ambulance." Joe replied.

"Speaking of Callie where is she? I didn't see her when I came in."

"They took her." Joe answered quietly. "She was taken from the hospital yesterday."

"Did you call the police yet?"

"No," Joe answered. "But we have four likely locations that we think they might be keeping Callie and Frank at. We needed an eight person but now that you're here will you help us search? We were going to check and see if Frank was at any of them and then meet back up before deciding how to proceed." Joe explained.

"Of course I'll help."

**A/N Review the 27th chapter written on the 27th of June.**


	28. Trespassing or Exploring

**A/N I really didn't think I could get this one done, I had absolutely no ideas, but a quick trip to Feath's First Word Generator gave me a start to the chapter and well, from there the rest got done eventually. **

**Thanks to all reviewers!**

**Disclaimer: An-Jelly-Ca owns nothing apart from her four summer reading books which she has to annotate. She asks that someone break into her house and burn said books so that she could use that as an excuse. She further asks that said person waits until August 25****th**** to do so, in order for An-Jelly-Ca to claim that she did not have time to purchase and annotate another set of books before the school year started.**

Trespassing? Joe preferred to think of his current activities as exploration, he found that saying he often explored different places rather then he often trespassed on private property gave people a better impression, also, saying the latter was likely to get him arrested. Joe and his father were currently in the process of sneaking around to the back of a warehouse located a short distance from the business district. They could see lights shining through the windows of the warehouse most of which were far too high up for either Fenton or Joe to see through.

There was, however, one window that looked to be short enough for them to see through. They were currently in the process of sneaking over to said window without being caught presuming someone was inside, they were reasonably certain that someone was, what with the lights and all, but they couldn't be sure.

They had split into four groups of two back at Joe's apartment: Liz with Chet, Phil with Vanessa, Tony with Biff, and Joe with Fenton. Joe and his father had selected this warehouse as Phil had dubbed it the most likely to be the correct location. The two quickly ran across the expanse of empty parking lot to the window. They ducked behind some garbage cans located near the window and paused there listening for the sound of activity within the warehouse.

The view the window provided was less then desirable as the surface of the window was covered in grime and looked as though it had not received a good cleaning in years or maybe even decades, making it very difficult to see into the warehouse. Joe had a feeling that it was intended to be this way. After squinting for several moments Joe was able to discern the fact that the window was located in a hallway of some sort. Apparently the warehouse was less of a warehouse and more of an actual house or an office building judging by the décor. However, Joe had more important things to worry about then whatever façade Marion and his goons were using to disguise their headquarters, such as where in this building was Frank and how on Earth were they going to stop a terrorist attack. Fenton and Joe were forced to duck down behind the garbage cans when one of the doors opened revealing Gustafson and Marion. The door in question sported a deadbolt lock that was fastened from outside, this factor alone led Joe to believe that Frank and Callie were being kept in that room. Unfortunately, he was unable to confirm his theory as there were no other windows on the same side of the building that were low enough to peer into.

"This is definitely the place." Joe hissed to his father. "Those are the guys who were holding me captive." He continued making sure to keep his voice low for fear of alerting those inside. "I think Callie and Frank are in the room they just came out of judging by the lock on the outside of the door. It was like that at the last place they had their headquarters too." Joe finished.

"All right, let's head back to your apartment we need to discuss a strategy before heading in, especially considering the possibility that bombs are inside that warehouse. I think it's about time we contacted the police." Fenton replied keeping his voice as low as Joe's had been. "Let's go." He repeated leading the way back across the parking lot and toward the sidewalk. They moved at a fast pace not stopping until they reached their car which they had blocked three blocks from the warehouse.

**-I am a line-**

Vanessa and Phil were careful to draw as little attention as possible to themselves as they snuck up to the nearest window of the building they had been assigned to check for signs of Frank and Callie. Several cars were parked in the parking lot giving the impression that several people were currently in the building. They approached the window cautiously and peered inside, unlike the window Joe and Fenton had been forced to look through this one was so clean it gave off a dull shine. They looked inside and saw what looked like an ordinary office building it was filled with cubicles and desks, Vanessa even spotted a copy machine in the corner. They were about to dub this building to be a lost cause when they heard a shout from behind them and turned to see a two men wearing jackets which bore the word 'security' on it running toward them.

"We should probably go…" Phil muttered. Vanessa nodded her agreement and the two took off running. The two men tore after them clearly intent upon detaining them.

"We really should've parked closer." Vanessa muttered as she ran down the sidewalk away from the two men who were chasing them. A glance over her should revealed that they were steadily gaining on them.

"Maybe we should just stop?" Phil asked also noticing the fact that they were rapidly being caught up to. "We can just tell them our friend works there and we were trying to get his attention." He added in a low tone. "Because I don't think we're going to be able to outrun them for much longer." He finished.

"Fine." Vanessa said drawing to a halt. "Hello, gentlemen," She said cheerfully as they drew to a stop in front of her and Phil. "What seems to be the problem?"

"You were trespassing on private property." The taller of the two replied narrowing his eyes at Vanessa and Phil.

"We were just trying to get our friends attention, he works there." Vanessa said pointing in the general direction of the building they had just run from.

"Does he?" The second man asked. "What's his name?"

"Tim. Tim Smith." Phil supplied.

"Well, since you're so eager to see your friend Mr. Smith, why don't we take a little walk over there and you can point him out to us, shall we?"

"We don't want to distract him from his work…" Vanessa replied.

"Trust me, it'll be no trouble for him, I'm sure he can spare a minute or two." The first of the two security guards continued. Vanessa and Phil exchanged a brief panicked glance.

"We really should be heading back home, my boyfriend is expecting us." Vanessa said quickly. "We'll just call Tim later."

"I'm sure your boyfriend won't mind waiting a few minutes, now come with us." The security guard, whose name Vanessa now noticed was Todd according to his nametag, replied taking her firmly by the arm and leading her toward the building. Phil was ushered forward by the other guard whose nametag read Jim.

**A/N Review the 28****th**** chapter written on the 28****th**** day of June. (By the way, do your alerts work? Because mine are broken.)**


	29. A New Course of Action

**A/N I am so immensly sorry for the long gap in between updates, there are many reasons for this, which include: I have spent the last three weeks in hell AKA Summer School, five hours of math per day. I wanted to die. I swear. Summer school is the worst torture ever. Furthermore, I, An-Jelly-Ca am totally addicted to Webkinz, I can't stop playing with it. So, basically my chapter update time has become my webkinz play time. Lol. Also, I was having a few problems deciding what to do about the whole bomb thing, but I finally talked to my beta, The Silent Rumble, today, and we figured out what to do about it (or he made suggestions and I agreed.) and then he promised an update if I updated by 10:00am tommorow, thus, I updated. lol. Anyway, I'm really sorry about the wait. Here is your update...**

**Thanks to all reviewers!**

**Dedication: To Cherylann Rivers, whitetigers, MissMe113, Miss Fenway, Gotta Love Shoes, and No1butjoe for their reviews and their patience at my slow updating for this chapter. And, also, to The Silent Rumble for his help with the whole blow up New York thing.**

**Disclaimer: I own nada! **

"I thought you said we were going to see Tim…" Vanessa said trying to appear as though she wasn't panicking.

"We are." Todd replied leading the way past rows of cubicles finally coming to a stop at a corner office, he opened the door and gestured for Vanessa and Phil to enter. "Stay here. Jim will keep you company. I'm going to go get _Tim_." He said placing emphasis on the word.

"Um, thanks." Vanessa said sharing a worried glance with Phil.

"Have a seat." Jim ordered. Vanessa and Phil complied. Vanessa scooted her chair forward until she was partway under the overhang of the desk their chairs sat in front of. She then reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone and text messaged 'Help!' to Liz who she figured was most likely to check her phone. She then hurriedly shoved it back into her bag and folded her hands in her lap attempting to look innocent.

-I am a line-

"Patch me through to the boss." Todd said when the familiar voice of one of Marion's guards spoke through the phone. He heard muffled voices and then the phone was handed over to Marion.

"Yes?" Marion asked his tone cool as always.

"Jim and I have two kids here, we found them snooping around outside peering through a window, they say they're looking for a Tim Smith, but there isn't any Tim here." Todd said.

"Find out their names." Marion ordered.

"I'll get on that now." Todd said as he pulled a walky-talky from his back pocket and spoke into it. "Jim, the boss wants to know what their names are." He continued.

-I am a line-

"What're your names?" Jim asked. "Keep in mind that I plan to check your wallets to confirm this so you might as well just tell me."

Vanessa and Phil exchanged a glance before deciding that their best option was to tell the truth so that there would be less reason to make the two men suspicions.

"Vanessa Bender and Phil Cohen." Vanessa replied in a cool tone.

"Their names are Vanessa Bender and Phil Cohen," Jim relayed to Todd after checking the driver's licenses that both friend reluctantly showed him.

-I am a line-

"Bender and Cohen?" Marion asked he paused to consider the names; they seemed somehow familiar although he could not immediately place them. It came to him after a few moments, the names were those of Joe Hardy's girlfriend, and Frank Hardy's close friend, his records indicated that both Hardys were friend with the Cohen boy, but Frank and Phil had been closer due to their mutual love of computers. Perhaps he would offer the two a job; their presence might prompt Frank to be slightly more cooperative. Marion preferred it if this workers would complete their tasks willingly, perhaps frank would stop resisting so much if he could sway his friends into joining their organization. "Bring them here." Marion said finally.

"Alright, boss, we'll have them there within an hour." Todd said before ending the call.

-I am a line-

"Did you guys find anything?" Biff asked pulling up a seat across from Liz and Chet and Joe's kitchen table.

"No, our place turned out just to be an empty warehouse. Totally deserted. I'd doubt if anyone had been there in the last year." Chet replied.

"What about you guys?" Liz asked.

"We didn't have any better luck," Tony answered. "I hope Joe and Mr. Hardy or Vanessa and Phil found something, because we really need a break in this case, we're seriously running out of time based on what Joe said about their attack plan."

Their conversation was cut short by the appearance of Joe and his father.

"How did it go? Did you manage to find any leads on Frank or Callie?" Biff asked immediately.

"We think we found the place, but first where's Vanessa and Phil?" Joe replied.

"They haven't come back yet." Chet said in response to Joe's query.

"Does anyone have a message from either of them?" Joe asked. This prompted a noisy pause in which everyone searched through their belongings to locate their cell phones. Liz let out an exclamation of triumph upon locating hers and spotting the alert on her screen which declared: 'one new text message from Vanessa.'

"She sent me a text message," Liz said in response to the looks they were sending her. "It says 'help.'" She finished paling as she read the message.

"Which location did they go to?" Fenton asked.

"This one," Biff said indicating to the location circled in a blue sharpie on the map Phil had procured back when they were still looking for Joe.

"It looks like we're going to have to head over there to look for them." Fenton said with a sigh.

"I think that location was supposed to be an office building, we need to act normal so we don't tip any one off." Joe continued. "This is going to be tricky, hopefully, Vanessa and Phil are still there if they got caught, I wouldn't put it past Marion to have them transported to his headquarters for use as additional leverage against Frank or even to help in his computer operations if he knows who they are and he probably does considering the amount of research that went into faking Frank's death."

"We better get moving then." Chet replied.

-I am a line-

"I think it's time we faced facts, there's no way they're going to be able to find us in time to stop this attack." Frank announced in the previously silent room. "They're going to be placing the bombs in a matter of hours, so, basically, it's going to be up to us to figure out how to stop those bombs from going off. I know you don't want to hear pessimistic talk, but at this point I'm just being realistic, and we can't afford to waist anymore time."

"What do you know about the arrangement of the bombs?" Callie asked by way of reply.

"They're all triggered to a main bomb, basically, if we take out that one the others won't go off, at least not with the remote system they will be using, meaning that once we take the bombs out they would have to go and manually set off each bomb from the actual location, it'll take them awhile to figure that out, so we'll just need to buy enough time for you to sneak out and contact the police about the bombs." Frank replied.

"Do you honestly think that even if I could sneak out, I would?" Callie asked incredulously. "I refuse to leave you to die in another explosion, I'm staying."

"Look, Callie, Marion said that he was going to leave us underneath the main bomb, so all we need to do is take it out, and then if you can leave he won't waste time looking for you at least not right away, and he'll come get me to fix them, I'll stall for time pretending that it's some unknown error like a virus, while you get the police and lead them to the location of the main bomb, from there it will simply be a task of shutting down the smaller ones. After taking out the main bomb, lead them here, Marion has the launch system and the locations of every single bomb in his office." Frank watched his former girlfriend solemnly silently begging her to do as he asked.

"I don't want to, no, I can't leave you to die, Frank." Callie said tears filling her eyes. "Don't ask me too."

"We're all going to end up dead or worse anyway if Marion doesn't get caught." Frank answered. "This is our only chance, just do it, Callie."

**A/N Review, please. Next update probably on Sunday, because I will be staying up all night tommorow having a reading Breaking Dawn sleepover where we will read Breaking Dawn all night, happy Breaking Dawn release to those Twilight Fans reading.**


	30. Marion's Offer Part 1

**A/N Okay. So the update is majorally late. Sorry. I've been trying to force myself to update other stories besides this one. So, I'm updating in order of most reviews. You guys are in second, and will probably always be in second, because the story in first has 313 reviews as of the current moment.**

**Thanks to all reviewers!**

**Dedication: To my fabulous reviewers, kungfukitty2006, whitetigers, MissMe113, franknjoe, Miss Fenway, Cherylann Rivers, and sleuth girl. **

**Disclaimer: An-Jelly-Ca owns nothing.**

"Let's go for a little ride." Jim said flashing a brief smile at Vanessa and Phil which far from comforting them only served to unnerve them further.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," Vanessa said swallowing hard and searching her brain for an excuse. "Phil and I really need to be getting to work, we just wanted to stop in and say hello to Tim and be on our way."

"Nonsense," Todd cut in smoothly. "I'm sure you have plenty of time to come with us, you see, I was talking to my boss, and he is very interested to meet you, he might even offer you a job, and I'm sure any job the boss offers is much better then the barely above minimum wage jobs the two of you probably have." He continued obviously trying to act like they had a choice in the matter.

"Besides," Jim interjected. "Tim will be there." He said smugness rolling off him in waves.

"Tim? But, Tim works here." Phil countered.

"Not any more, the boss thought Tim showed promise and had him transferred to his main offices." Jim explained, and just like that Phil knew they had no chance of avoiding the trip to Marion's 'office.'

"You did say you wanted to say hello to Tim, right?" Todd queried his tone pleasant.

"Fine. Let's go." Vanessa said reluctantly, it was clear that they could either go 'willingly' or be knocked out and dragged to Marion but one way or another they were going to go, and maybe they'd be able to see Frank.

The drive to Marion's office was dead silent: Todd and Jim were not especially big on small talk and Vanessa and Phil were too busy planning an escape to bother questioning their captors further. Vanessa and Phil were ushered through the door and down a long hallway to Marion's office upon their arrival at the outwardly dingy warehouse that served as Marion's temporary headquarters.

They were greeted by Marion himself who rose from behind his desk offering his hand to each of them in turn. "Miss Bender, Mister Cohen, it's a pleasure to meet you, I've heard so much about you." Marion said by way of greeting. "Your reputations in electronics precede you, your skills are said to be quite shocking especially for ones so young." He continued. "Please have a seat." He added gesturing to the two cushioned chairs positioned in front of his mahogany desk.

Phil and Vanessa immediately sat feeling a bit like children in the principal's office. "Mister…I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your name?" Vanessa started purposely pretending she didn't know who he was for the sake of appearances. There was no reason for him to know how much they had discovered about him and his organization.

"I apologize, where are my manners?" Marion replied. "My name is Jonathan Marion; I am the CEO of a large business conglomerate, I learned of both of you through an associate of mine and I'd be delighted if you were to accept a position at my company."

Phil and Vanessa exchanged a nervous glance unable to decide how to proceed, they were certain that refusal was not exactly an option as Marion would likely just force them to work for him as he had done with Frank, but at least if they pretended interest in Marion's offer he might trust them and let them see Frank. On the other hand they could refuse to cooperate, and maybe Marion would lock them up in the same place as Frank and Callie. And, while being kidnapped wasn't exactly ideal it was a sure fire way to find out where they were keeping Frank and Callie.

"Can I be frank with you Mr. Marion?" Vanessa asked abruptly coming to a decision.

"Yes, of course, Miss Bender."

"We both know that you're more then a CEO of a large business conglomerate, and that you want to retain my services and Phil's for that matter for more then just some typical tech work or accounting." Vanessa began, carefully watching Marion's face for his reaction, as she spoke she could feel Phil's eyes boring holes in the side of her head, clearly wondering what on earth she was doing.

**-I am a line-**

"We need to decide on a story for when we arrive." Joe said half to himself, half to the others crowded into Tony's car. "We obviously can't just storm onto the property demanding to know where Vanessa and Phil are, this isn't some deserted warehouse, it's supposedly an office building and they're not going to want anything to shatter that façade."

"Which means we can't all go storming in there, it should just be one or two of us that go looking for them while the others wait in the car." Fenton clarified his son's words in a grim tone.

"I'm going." Joe said automatically. Fenton frowned but didn't protest.

"Do we have any idea what kind of business is supposed to be happening there?" Joe's father said addressing the group at large. "If we can act like we're there to do business and just casually look for Vanessa and Phil or pretend like we were supposed to be meeting them there for business purposes we'll likely be accepted a lot easier."

"Phil and Vanessa did most of the research, it was mostly computer stuff, and we were really just concerned with finding out where Joe was." Chet responded.

"That's going to make things a lot harder," Joe mused. "We can always just go with the standard my-friends-called-and-asked-me-to-pick-them-up-here story."

"At this point I think we're going to have to." Fenton responded.

"I think I should probably take one of the guys with me," Joe said. "It'll look more like a bunch of friends meeting up for lunch that way, it'll look weird if I walk in with you, it's more likely to raise flags." Joe said addressing his father.

"I'll go with you," Tony volunteered. "Phil and Vanessa were in my search group when we were looking for you and well…" Joe nodded in understanding saving his friend from speaking further.

They reached their location shortly after this; they parked down the street from the building. Tony and Joe got out and walked the rest of the way so that anyone watching would see only two apparent friends entering an office building.

"Hello," Joe said flashing a bright smile at the receptionist, a blonde woman who appeared to be in her early twenties, the name plate on her desk read Amanda Trater. "I was wondering if you had seen some friends of ours, their names are Phil Cohen and Vanessa Bender."

"They were coming to see a friend of ours who works here." Tony added.

"I'm afraid I've never heard of either of those people, but if you could supply me with a physical description I might be able to help you."

"I have a picture actually." Tony said pulling out a group shot taken shortly before Frank died; he had been using it to show to people when they were searching for Joe. "Vanessa is the one on the far left, and Phil is the one two spots over from her." He continued pointing out both Vanessa and Phil in the photo.

"I'm not normally supposed to give out information about our patrons." The receptionist said nervously chewing on her lower lip as she thought.

"They aren't _patrons_ really, they were just here visiting a friend." Joe argued. "Please. I really need to talk with them," He said giving her his best pleading look.

"I suppose if it was an _emergency_ I could tell you." Amanda said looking at them imploringly.

"Oh. Yes." Joe paused. "That's actually why I need to see them, Vanessa's cousin, Callie, got in an accident, I was supposed to pick her up and bring her to the hospital."

"Well, considering that this is a dire circumstance, I suppose I can tell you what I know." She said with a small smile. "They came in about an hour ago accompanied by two of our security guards, they were led tone of the back offices, and they came out again with the same two security guards about fifteen minutes ago, they left the building, I don't know where they went after that. I hope that helps."

"Yes, thanks so much for your help," Joe said flashing the woman one final smile before swiftly exiting the building Tony following close behind him.

"How did it go?" Biff questioned as soon as they got back into the car. "Did you find out anything?"

"The receptionist said that security escorted them to a back office about an hour ago, they stayed in the office for awhile, and then were escorted out about fifteen minutes ago, and she said that's the last she saw of them." Joe recapped.

"Assuming that she's telling the truth, and that's probably a big assumption, if Phil and Vanessa left escorted by security they're probably being taken to Marion, that said, they're likely at the same building as Frank and Callie." Fenton mused.

"So, how do we proceed?" Joe asked.

**-I am a line-**

**A/N Review, please. Updates should pick up because I am trying to finish or come close to finishing the story before school starts on August 26th. (I'm hoping for delays, our school has asbestos and they've been working all summer to get it out but they are nowhere near finished and we can't go back until it's gone. There's talk of as much as a week delay.)**


	31. Marion's Offer Part 2

**A/N: So, this is the part when I throw myself at your feet and beg for forgiveness. I am a terrible, mean author, and I apologize wholeheartedly for the lack of updates. Please forgive me. **

**  
Thanks to all Reviewers!!!**

**Dedication: To my wonderful reviewers: Carolyn, LizMary96, Rose123, MidstRide, MissMe113, Miss Fenway, Mouse95, whitetigers, kungfukitty2006, and Cherylann Rivers.**

**Disclaimer: In the six or so months since I last updated I have not acquired the Hardy Boys.**

Phil watched Marion's face anxiously expecting to see anger instead Marion looked mildly amused. Phil chewed on his lower lip as he anxiously awaited Marion's reply hoping that Vanessa's gamble wasn't about to get them both killed.

"Oh?" Marion asked his town deceptively calm. "I'm afraid I don't quite know what you're talking about Miss Bender, would you care to elaborate? In other words, what is you think I _do_ exactly?"

Vanessa paused carefully considering how to proceed at this point, a single misstep could not only result in her own death, but the death of her friends, and possibly something a whole lot worse like the destruction of New York. "Well, honestly, I think you're, how should I phrase this, involved in some, uh, extralegal activities?"

Marion actually laughed at this. "Since we're being honest, what's say I be frank with you, Miss Bender?" He didn't wait for a response. "Let's say, hypothetically, I was to be involved in some questionable investments, how would _you_ feel about that?"

"Well, it wouldn't really be any of _my_ business, would it?" Vanessa answered carefully.

"_That_, my dear, would depend on whether you're willing to accept my offer."

"What exactly is your offer?" Vanessa replied.

"How opposed are you to extralegal activities, as you so charmingly put it?" Marion asked idly.

Phil and Vanessa exchanged a nervous glance. "Um, that depends on what kind of extralegal activities we're discussing, I'm pretty opposed to murder…but if we're discussing skimming a tad off the top of some financial records or something, well who hasn't done that, every now and then?" Vanessa said forcing a choked laugh out which came out sounding more like a croak but Marion didn't seem to notice or if he did he declined to comment.

"Of course, I would _never_ dream of killing anyone…" Marion said his tone carefully innocent. "In fact, I would call what I want you two to help me with more questionable then necessarily…illegal."

"Oh?" Phil asked raising an eyebrow. Somehow, he really wasn't all that reassured by Marion's response.

"Indeed." The man replied. "The thing is, I have a few vacancies on my technical crew, and I need some replacements…"

"If you don't mind my asking, what happened to your old employees?" Phil asked, something about Marion's tone freaked him out.

"Oh…yes, of course, they simply weren't _suited_ for the job, if you know what I mean." He paused again. "So, I would like to offer you both jobs working on my technical crew, the most questionable activity you would be involved in would be some moderate hacking, and I'll double the paycheck you're currently receiving."

"It's a tempting offer, Mr. Marion, really it is…" Vanessa was cut off by the businessman.

"I'm sensing a but, Miss Bender, I'm sure I needn't tell you this, but I really, really, dislike being said no to." His eyes flashed dangerously. Vanessa and Phil shared an anxiety filled look before Vanessa answered.

"Well…I guess we could take the jobs, I mean, I wouldn't want to disappoint you after you were so, uh, hospitable toward us." Vanessa responded carefully.

"Excellent, now that we have that settled, I'll have Todd escort you to your rooms." Marion picked up the phone at his desk and pressed a single button and talked quietly into the receiver for a few moments before hanging up. "He'll be here in a few moments."

"I'm sure I must have misheard, you Mr. Marion, I thought you said Todd would be escorting us to our rooms…"

"Nope, you heard correctly, Miss Bender," Marion replied. "My entire technical crew lives here, they do very important work for me, and I wouldn't want to risk one of my competitors snatching them up."

_They probably all live here because he kidnapped them all. _Vanessa couldn't help but think.

"Vanessa and I cannot simply drop everything, we need to inform our current boss of our resignation and pick up our clothes and everything…"

"Don't worry about it, I will inform your boss of everything, and Todd or Jim will go pick up your clothes from your apartments," Marion replied smoothly. "Now that we have that settled, you'll be meeting your co-workers tomorrow morning, have a wonderful evening." Just as Marion finished speaking a knock sounded at the door. "Enter."

"You called for me?" Todd asked.

"Ah, yes, of course," Marion replied. "Miss Bender and Mister Cohen have kindly accepted my offer to work on my technical crew, please escort them to their rooms in the East corridor."

"Of course, boss." Todd replied before beckoning for Vanessa and Phil to follow him from the room.

Marion waited until several minutes before picking up the phone once more and requesting that Frank be brought to his office.

**A/N: Well, that concludes this chapter, please review, I will for real try to update soon, I probably won't get a chance until next weekend though. But, I am really excited for my plans with this story…which should probably bring up red flags in your minds, you may have realized that there has been up until this point, a disturbing lack of Frank!whumping. And, those of you who have read my other stories know that the chances of Frank escaping anything unscathed are well, pretty close to zero. Haha. Review!**


	32. Tactical Maneuvers

**A/N Hello, my darlings, I've returned with an update for you. I am very sorry for the long wait and I hope you shall continue to read and review.**

**Thanks to all Reviewers!!!**

**Dedication: to last chapter's reviewers: kungfukitty2006, LizMary96, Miss Fenway, Cherlyann Rivers, whitetigers, and Lmary. **

**Disclaimer: An-Jelly-Ca owns none of the characters described herein.**

"Come with me, Hardy." Jim ordered opening the door to the room where Callie and Frank were being held. "The boss wants to see you."

Frank scowled but got to his feet exchanging a worried glance with Callie before following Jim out the door and down the hallway toward Marion's office. Jim knocked on the door when they arrived and waited until Marion's voice said 'enter,' before he opened the door and shoved Frank inside before closing the door behind him and taking up his post outside the door.

"Ah, Franklin, how good of you to come." Marion said mildly as though they were merely having a pleasant conversation.

"Because I had so much choice in the matter." Frank responded bitingly.

"That was a bit rude, Franklin, you know how I feel about rudeness." Marion responded coolly. Frank had to hold back the urge to roll his eyes at the absurd notion that he should be polite to his kidnapper. Instead he settled for asking Marion what he wanted.

"Why did you call me here?"

"Tsk, tsk, so impatient." Marion said mockingly. "However, I will get to the point, it has come to my attention that you may be planning to undermine my attack…that my dear, Franklin, would be most unfortunate." Marion paused for effect. "You see I happen to have a couple more pieces of leverage as it were…" With that he took out a remote control and turned on the television in the back corner of his office. "Watch."

Frank watched and he was not at all pleased by what he saw. He observed Vanessa and Phil being led down the hall by Todd toward some unknown rooms in the complex.

"You see Frank, it often pays to be holding all the cards in certain situations, so this how this is going to work out. I have laid the groundwork for framing Vanessa and Phil as planning this attack, I have created links between them and a rival organization, if this attack is prematurely stopped the blame will fall to them and I will be long gone." The terrorist said with a wicked gleam in his eyes.

"How do I know you just won't turn around and blame them even if the attack goes through?" Frank questioned cynically suppressing his shock.

"Basically, because my organization wants the credit for hurting the United States, at the same time if the attack fails and we are blamed it will limit our ability to launch a successful attack." Marion replied. "Furthermore, I decided it will be much, much to risky to have you and Miss Shaw alone at the site of the main bomb, therefore you will be in the bomb shelter underneath the main bomb, on hand in case anything fails but still safe from the explosions. Whereas Miss Shaw will be with me, at headquarters, if the attack fails I will kill her, do not doubt it. If it is a success I will not harm one hair on her pretty little head, in fact I will even release her before we exit the country. You of course will be coming with me to headline our computer divisions outside the U.S."

Frank thought quickly. Marion had pretty much shot all his plans to hell, and there was no way he was going to be able to allow all of those innocent people to die, at the same time he couldn't risk Callie's life nor Vanessa's and Phil's freedom. His only hope was to somehow break Callie, Vanessa and Phil out tonight so that they would be safe. He could then use his time on the computer when he was supposed to be transferring their accounts to banks overseas to send evidence of the true wrongdoers to the correct authorities. Callie would also be able to testify to the innocence of their friends. Frank could then interfere with the main bomb and sure he would probably end up dead but at least his friends and the thousands of innocent people would be spared. He would take the trade-off any day and it looked like he was going to have to. He only hoped that Joe would be able to function without him this time.

"You promise you'll let her go?" Frank said as though he planned to go along with the plan.

"Of course." Marion replied. "You need to finish transferring the accounts, correct?" He asked.

"Yes." Frank replied.

"Alright, I will have Jim take you there now." Marion picked up his office phone and spoke rapidly into it presumably to Jim because moments later said employee opened the door and grabbed Frank roughly by the arm leading him to the computer room.

**A/N Review please. Updates will begin to come faster as school is ending in two weeks. Also, as you can probably tell Frank is going to be in some major trouble…**


	33. Frank's Plan

**A/N (hides from angry!readers and ducks objects thrown at her), um, sorry about the extreme lateness in updates/lack thereof. I promise I am going to get my updating schedule back on track, I have major Hardy Boys inspiration now, as you may be able to tell by the fact that this is my fourth Hardy Boys chapter posted in the past like, three days... **

**Thanks to all Reviewers!!!**

**Dedication: To alybro0512, whitetigers, kungfukitty2006, and Miss Fenway for their reviews. **

**Disclaimer: An-Jelly-Ca owns none of the characters described herein. Well except for the evil ones, and who really wants those anyway?**

The best part about his current task of transferring accounts was that it required a certain amount of Internet access, which was going to allow him a single chance to put a stop to this attack.

Frank glanced over his shoulder in search of whichever goon Marion had guarding him. Said goon scowled at Frank and jabbed his finger at the computer indicating that he should get back to work.

Fortunately, most of Marion's employees weren't terribly bright, which meant as long as he was working at the computer they would be unable to tell whether he was working on the appropriate task.

With this in mind, Frank typed in a familiar web address, which led to an innocuous looking website for an accounting service, the website was actually encrypted with several layers of code, underneath which was the site Frank was actually looking for. Frank made sure to keep a window open with the information about Marion's accounts while he worked on hacking through the encryption. Frank finally broke through and a message window popped up allowing Frank to "comment with suggestions for improving the site in 150 words or less." He typed out a brief message in the code that had been drilled into is head and swiftly sent the message. He then turned back to his task of transferring Marion's obscene amount of funds overseas. He could only hope that his message was received in time.

"I'm done." Frank announced after another hour had passed in complete silence other than the sound of his fingers flying across the key board.

"Excellent." Marion's goon said, seizing Frank just above the elbow and tugging him from the room. He was deposited back in his former location with Callie, who was dozing lightly propped up against the wall.

"Cal?" Frank called shaking her lightly.

She awoke with a start and blinked several times taking in her surroundings. "What are we going to do?" She asked finally.

"We need to get you the hell out of here." Frank answered.

"I am not leaving you here." She said stubbornly.

"We don't really have much of a choice at this point." The brunet replied. "Besides, I have a contingency plan in the works for me, if we can just manage to break you, Vanessa, and Phil out." Frank reassured her.

"What do you have in mind?" Callie asked warily.

"...do you still remember how to pick a lock?" Frank inquired. He had taught Callie to pick locks several years earlier when they had still been dating.

"I think so." Callie answered.

"Well, I've managed to acquire rudimentary lock picks of a sort." Frank explained pulling out a collection of paper clips from his pocket. He had found them by the computer and managed to surreptitiously take them when Marion's goon hadn't been paying good enough attention. Frank began to untwist the paperclips turning them in to thin medal rods.

"At precisely one a.m. Marion allows several of the guards to go home for the evening, leaving one outside our room, while the rest of the guards are consolidated on the second floor. If you go out the door to our room and turn left it will lead to a doorway at the end of the hallway, if you go through that door it leads to a back stairway, go up two flights of stairs. Vanessa and Phil are on the third floor, second door on the right. Break them out, Herein lies the tricky part." Frank paused.

"Oh, because the rest of it sounded real easy, practically a cake walk." Callie replied sounding vaguely hysterical.

"I'm glad you agree," Frank said sounding completely serious. "The problem is that by turning right you will be in the same hallway as Marion's office, where he will inevitably be located. This is the part you're not going to like. The only way you stand a chance of getting out is for me to get rid of Marion. This is what we're going to need to do, you are going to unlock Vanessa and Phil's door, and tell them to wait at the bottom of the stairs. You will then return to our room, obviously I will have knocked the guard unconscious at this point. I will then make a completely fruitless escape attempt, which will cause Marion to catch me. He will come to this room see that you have not gone here, and leave you alone, he will have some of his other guards drag the unconscious one to the second floor where the overnight guards sleep. He will then take me in the company of several other guards to the fourth floor to be appropriately punished for my escape attempt. At this point, you will be completely free and clear however, you will then go collect Phil and Vanessa and escape through Marion's office which has no security cameras, if you go through the closet in his office there is a door in the back of it which opens on to the street. Get in to a restaurant or another highly public location right away and call my dad or Joe and have them come get you, okay?"

Callie stared at her former boyfriend incredulously. "Are you high?" She asked. "No?" She said when he looked offended. "Okay, are you experiencing fever induced hallucinations? No? Are you sure?" She paused. "Then what on earth would make you think that I'd be willing to leave you here to face God only knows what kind of horrible consequences while I escape?" She asked.

"It's the best plan we have." Frank explained. "If we all try to escape together there is zero chance of us getting out, we need to get Marion out of his office, that's the only exit we have a realistic chance of escaping through, the windows all have sensors on them which would go berserk. Listen, I've gotten into contact with the Network, if you guys escape and I'm left alone near the main bomb, I could take it out, and the Network officials can swarm the scene, but if you and Phil and Vanessa are there as potential hostages there is no chance of this ending well. Please, Cal, you have to trust me." Frank pleaded.

Callie looked at him with troubled brown eyes. "If you get yourself killed, I will never forgive you." She said sternly, un-shed tears sparkling in her eyes.

"I won't." Frank promised.

"I'll hold you to that." She said with a soft laugh.

**A/N Next chapter we shall see if their escape attempt works. As you can tell this is where the Frank!whumping is going to come in.** **Review, please.**


	34. Freedom?

********

********

**A/N Woot, a fast update! Are you guys shocked? haha. Happy Easter in advance to my Christian readers. :D**

**Thanks to all Reviewers!**

**Dedication: Surreal Epiphany847 my newest reviewer. :D**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. ;)**

"Okay, let's go over this one more time..." Frank began only to be interrupted by his former girlfriend, who rolled her eyes at him in mock exasperation.

"I know, I know, I open the door and then I get the hell out of the way while you knock the guard out." Callie recited dully. "You worry too much." She scolded, ignoring her own paranoia about his role in the upcoming plan.

"On three?" Frank asked.

"Agreed." The blonde said with a nod and accordingly stood to the right of the door prepared to seize the door knob and swing it open while Frank stood on the left ready to knock the guard on the head when he came into the room. She swung the door open just after he said three and rapidly moved backward out of the way.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing-" The guard began, not even managing to voice his entire demand before Frank knocked him out. The detective dutifully dragged Marion's employee out of the threshold and into Frank and Callie's previous prison.

"Go." Frank ordered.

"Remember your promise." Callie said looking up at him with worry in her eyes.

"I will," He confirmed in a soft tone. Callie walked over to him and pulled his face down to her level, kissing him briefly on the lips before running out of the room in the direction of Phil and Vanessa. She walked up the stairs towards her friends' location, she proceeded slowly, imagining that she heard footsteps dogging her path. She reached the top of the stairs and peaked into the hallway, finding it empty she proceeded to the second door on the right, and took the makeshift set of lock-picks Frank had furnished her with from her pocket. It took her several minutes to work the door open, finally managing it she said a silent prayer that they would get through this safely and entered the room.

"Callie?!" Vanessa exclaimed in a loud tone.

"Shh!" The blonde admonished her friend. "We're getting out of here." Callie explained in a whisper. "I don't have time to explain, but follow me, okay?" She didn't wait for either of them to reply but headed into the hallway. Phil and Vanessa dutifully proceeded in her wake. "Wait here." Callie commanded when they reached the bottom of the stair case. "Stay out of sight." She cautioned, the two ducked in the space underneath the staircase, while Callie headed back to the location of her and Frank's former captivity. She found him staring down at the still out-cold guard.

"It went all right?" Frank asked, determinedly not asking what her kiss meant about their future relationship, such discussions would have to wait for a better time, he could only hope that they were both gifted with such a moment.

"Yes." Callie said nodding to emphasize her affirmative response.

"My turn." Frank noted. "Wish me luck." He said as he headed at a rapid pace down the hallway, swiftly turning right.

"Good luck." Callie whispered uselessly after him sinking to the floor.

Frank headed towards the window at the end of the hallway, he well knew that the window was triggered to an alarm any attempt to escape in that manner would be utterly ineffective. This was the sort of half-baked plan he would never try in a legitimate escape attempt, not that Marion knew that. Frank passed Marion's office and reached the window, he pushed up on the bottom half of the window with his palms and listened as alarms began to ring out throughout the complex. Marion's door burst open just as Frank seemed to be about to exit via the window. Two guards and the boss himself spilled out of the room. The guards seized Frank by the arms and hauled him backwards and over to Marion.

"I must say, I expected better of you, Mr. Hardy." Marion said coldly, his disdain clear in his voice. "Take him to the forth floor, Mr. Hardy needs to be taught a lesson in obedience, before tomorrow's events." He continued nodding to the guard who had Frank by his right arm. "I will join you shortly." Marion waited until the guard had dragged Frank down the hallway and out of sight before turning to the second guard. "Let's go see what happened to Jones." He suggested referring to the guard responsible for watching Frank and Callie.

They found the blonde girl seated on the floor of the room, the guard unconscious on the other end of the room.

"Get him out of here." Marion ordered his employee. The man dutifully hauled his fellow guard up underneath his arms and dragged him out of the room, headed toward the elevator down the hall from Marion's office, it would be a more efficient way of getting him to the guard's barracks on the third floor considering his current condition. "Now, Miss Shaw, why don't you tell me why you didn't join Mr. Hardy in his escape plan?" Marion inquired in a seemingly pleasant tone, as though they were having a chat about the weather or some other suitably mundane topic.

"Plan?" Callie scoffed disdainfully. "That was no plan, that was a virtual suicide attempt, I told Frank I thought it was stupid, but did he listen to me?" She asked. "Of course not, that's the problem with all these Hardys they always have to go rushing in, acting all macho, with no thoughts at all for the consequences." She finished darkly.

"Indeed?" Marion mused, looking at the girl with an unreadable expression on his face. "I'm glad you understand escape is futile. See that you continue to grasp that concept in the future, you just may make it through this with your life." He said sternly before stalking out of the room and shutting the door behind him, pausing only to lock it, he hadn't bothered locking it earlier when there had been a guard stationed directly outside the door, and that was not a mistake he intended to repeat. Callie waited until his footsteps had long since faded away before picking the lock to the room and heading toward the stairs, she found Phil and Vanessa crouched beneath the stairs out of sight of any entering the area.

"Let's go." Callie urged leading the way toward Marion's office.

"We saw Frank." Phil said worriedly as they hurried down the hallway.

"The guard with him did not look happy." Vanessa added unnecessarily. "I don't feel right leaving him here."

"Neither do I." Callie admitted. "But he's convinced this plan will work, and at least we can come back with help if we get out of here." She said as they reached Marion's office. She pulled the door open and ushered the other two into the room. She rushed over to the closet door located to the right of the entrance and yanked it open, she shoved the assortment of coats out of the way and found another door nestled in the closet. She pushed that door open as well and led the way out of the office through the closet. Phil was the last to exit and he carefully shut the door to the closet behind him. All three emerged onto the dark street and found their first glimpses of freedom. They sped silently away from their former location, running at full speed until they had proceeded down three streets and spotted the bright lights of a twenty-four hour convenience store.

"Can I use your phone, please?" Callie asked politely of the cashier. He looked suspiciously at the three out of breath friends. "My car broke down a couple blocks away, I need to call for a ride." She explained smiling winningly at him. He nodded and thrust the phone toward the edge of the counter.

"Go ahead." His suspicions were abated with the car story. Callie dialed Biff's cell phone number and waited for the other boy to answer. She was rewarded when he picked up on the second ring.

"Biff?" She asked.

"Callie?! Are you okay, where are you?" He asked.

"I'm with Phil and Vanessa at a convenience store on-" She turned to the other two for the street name.

"Filmore Street." Phil supplied.

"Filmore Street." Callie repeated. "My car broke down can you come get us? Quickly, if you can." She continued.

Biff picked up on her cover story quickly and agreed to be there as soon as possible. Callie disconnected the call and thanked the cashier for his assistance. All three decided to look around the store while they waited for Biff in order to forestall further questions from the cashier, they could only hope that help would arrive soon.

****************

**A/N Review!** **In answer to a question I received: Frank couldn't escape with Callie, because the only way out that didn't trigger an alarm was through Marion's office, and the only way to get out through there was to get Marion to leave his office as well as the other guards, thus Frank was obliged to sacrifice himself as a diversion.**


	35. Marion is not amused

**A/N Hello, my darlings, I apologize for the intermediate length wait, but I have had literally zero, count them zero hours of free-time until now. Thus, updates shall soon increase vastly in speed.**

**Thanks to all Reviewers!**

**Dedication: alybro0512, my 200th reviewer! :D :D :D **

**Disclaimer: I own nada. Well, except the crazy, evil dudes, and who really wants them anyway?**

**Warning: This chapter is rated for violence, and cursing. **

"My capacity to be amused by your behavior is rapidly fading, Mr. Hardy." Marion commented in a hard tone, which if not for the dangerous glint in his eyes seemed almost to resemble a parent scolding a child for forgetting to take out the trash.

"Darn." Frank responded caustically. "And, here I thought I was being a regular laugh riot." He knew that baiting the other man was probably not the best of ideas, but he did need to make sure that Callie and the others were far from the premises before anyone noticed their disappearance which meant stalling for time.

Marion would had been idly flicking open a pocket knife as he awaited Frank's response turned to look at the brunet sharply, his hand almost lovingly caressing the edge of the blade.

"Tut, tut, Frank, and I thought you were supposed to be the smart one." Marion murmured thoughtfully. "I suppose I had heard wrong..." He continued. "Of course it is of little consequence to me, as long as I get what I want. And trust me when I say, Mr. Hardy, I always get what I want. Always." He breathed.

Frank involuntarily felt a shiver trail down his spine as a slightly crazed expression flashed through Marion's eyes before it was carefully tucked away again.

"Do you know what I find interesting...?" Marion questioned his voice deceptively mild.

"Um. No?" Frank responded after a pause in which he decided that the other man actually expected him to answer.

"That for someone so smart, you could try such a stupid escape plan. Which leads me to wonder, did you actually believe you could succeed or is this a cover-up for something else." Marion mused aloud, lightly running the blade of the knife up Frank's arm just hard enough to open a thin cut on his arm and incite an involuntary wince. "I really dislike being played for a fool, Mr. Hardy. Although, I'm sure you were already aware of that."

Frank's eyes flicked toward the guards stationed on either side of the door and then back to Marion in rapid succession.

Meanwhile, Marion deposited the knife on the edge of the desk and walked around to the back of the piece of furniture, procuring a handgun from the depths of the top right-hand desk drawer. "I could just shoot you, you know." He murmured thoughtfully, weighing the gun in his hands and looking down at it as though seriously considering the option, which he probably was.

"But you won't." Frank pointed out.

"I won't?" Marion asked sounding amused. "Please, enlighten me, Mr. Hardy."

"We both know that I'm still useful to you, and as long as I remain useful you're going to keep me alive." Frank said boldly, in a tone that implied he was much more confident than he actually was.

"Ah, well, perhaps not, perhaps not, I'll give you that." Marion agreed. "Although, perhaps your pretty blonde friend could be substituted in your place? Maybe that would teach you the futility of disobedience?" He wondered.

Frank swallowed with difficulty and prayed that Callie was far, far away by now.

"Although, such beauty would be a shame to waste. Such a shame. Perhaps, Miss Shaw would not be averse to growing _closer_ to me if you know what I mean?" Marion taunted.

"Like hell she would." Frank spat back.

It happened so fast, Frank barely had time to steel himself for the blow, as the revolver held in Marion's hand collided painfully with his cheek, he could feel his face burning in that peculiar way that bruises or soon-to-be bruises do, and he felt a slow, yet steady trail of blood slide down his face.

"The more I know of you, Frank Hardy, the more I am convinced that the reports of your supposedly cautious nature were heavily exaggerated at best, but then perhaps it was a relative measure, your brother does strike me as even more likely to fly off the handle than your self."

Despite the throbbing in his face, and the fact that his right eye was swelling to the point that he could barely see out of it, Frank managed to muster up a weak glare in response.

"I just don't understand where I went wrong, I isolated you from your family and friends, I've kept you in total lock down, and yet here you are stubbornly clinging to your notions of morality, and your sense of free will as if somehow you are going to win out in the end." The terrorist let out a peal of cold laughter that chilled Frank to the bone. "It would almost be funny if it weren't so pathetic."

Frank refused to dignify the monologue with a response, which seemed to infuriate Marion more than anything. The terrorist stalked over to the hard-backed wooden chair where Frank currently sat and seized the former detective under the chin and forced his face upward so that their eyes met.

"I will break you, Frank Hardy."

With these words, Marion stalked out of the room gesturing for the two remaining guards to finish teaching Frank the folly of his escape attempts.

**-Story Break-**

It was a relatively silent group that trooped back into Joe's apartment, they had managed to get Callie, Vanessa, and Phil safely back but they were still short one key member of their group.

Joe led the way down the hall, inserting his key into the lock and opening the door. Imagine, Joe's surprise, expecting to return to an empty apartment to find himself immediately seized on both sides and pulled quickly and forcefully inside the dwelling.

**-Story Break-**

"Get him up." Marion commanded, his teeth clenched angrily as he glared down at the battered and bloodied form of one Franklin Matthew Hardy. "Get. Him. Up." He repeated when his guards didn't react fast enough. "I tried to be nice, really, truly I did. I could have killed your girlfriend, or your brother, or actually your entire family if I had wanted to, but out of generosity and benevolence I spared them. And, how do you repay me?" Marion questioned.

Frank forced himself to meet Marion's eyes, despite the fact that he wouldn't have been able to stand if not for Marion's employees holding him up.

"Whatever happened to gratitude? I suppose your daddy never taught you that, did he? I've tried to be a good host, Mr. Hardy, I've tried, but I'm done playing Mr. Nice Guy."

Frank wanted to point out that they had to very different conceptions of what constituted nice, but he didn't think that would improve his situation.

"Rest assured, Mr. Hardy, I will find Miss Shaw, and once I do I will slowly and painfully end her miserable existence, and when she is dead I will mail her back to her parents one piece at a time."

"You miserable son of a bitch, you leave Callie out of this." Frank spat.

"You're in no position to be making demands." Marion noted coolly. "It's about time you were taught your place, there's to be no more spacial treatment for you, I will treat you the same way I do every disobedient employee, and believe me when I say you won't like the change. Normally, I would just kill you at this point, luckily for you, I have use for you yet, however, I will make sure you spend the remainder of your existence wishing for the sweet embrace of death, you can rest assured of that." He retrieved the knife from the place it had rested on the desk and gestured for his guards to force Frank back into the chair again. They gripped his arms painfully while Marion watched apathetically.

He ran the knife down Frank's leg idly, almost lazily, as though this were all just a game for him. He paused and leaned forward, so that his face was inches away from Frank's his left hand gripping Frank's shoulder. Frank found that he could not look away from Marion's rabidly angry face, and so it was that he lost track of the knife, and was only reawakened to its presence when Marion stabbed it in the joint where knee met thigh, and Frank was unable to suppress a shout of sheer agony. Marion seemed to find this extremely funny for some reason that was lost on Frank, amidst his pain induce haze. The terrorist twisted the knife counter-clockwise eliciting an involuntary gasp of pain from the detective.

"Don't try fucking with me again, Mr. Hardy. Next time you won't live to regret it. Useful or not." Marion warned in a hard tone before turning on his heel and exiting the room, closing the door with a firm click behind him.

**A/N Review, please. Next update shall be soon, as I am officially done with all schoolwork, and graduation is next Sunday. :D**


	36. New Developments

**A/N Hello! I've returned with an update!**

**Thanks to all Reviewers!**

**Dedication: to whitetigers for her review!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

"What the hell?" Joe mumbled more to himself then anyone else as he elbowed the person grabbing him in the gut. He heard the person suck in their breath, clearly winded.

"Really, Joe, I come all this way to help and this is how you greet my agents." A voice called from across the kitchen. The room was flooded with light, and Joe was abruptly released and able to look around.

"Gray?" The blond former detective asked incredulously.

"In the flesh." The Network agent replied. "It seems we have a bit of a problem, perhaps you should all sit down..." He said gesturing to the rest of the group who had been pulled inside after Joe. "It's nice to see you again, Fenton."

The private investigator nodded in acknowledgment as he sunk into a chair opposite the Network agent. Vanessa and Callie sat themselves on Joe's sparse kitchen counter, while Joe, Tony, and Biff took the remaining seats at the table. Chet and Phil propped themselves against the wall opposite the table and watched the Network agent with wary expressions.

"I suppose you're wondering what I'm doing here?" Gray remarked upon receiving several affirmative nods he continued to explain. "The network recently received a message from one Frank Hardy, who had been declared dead to the best of our knowledge..."

"He's alive." Joe affirmed in response to Gray's unspoken question.

"Frank informed us of a planned terrorist attack on New York to occur tomorrow." Gray said in a grim tone.

"The people who have Frank had kidnapped Joe, Callie, Vanessa, and Phil." Fenton stated. "We got Joe back several days ago, but the other three just managed to escape."

"How is it that you three escaped without Frank?" The Gray man inquired.

"Frank sacrificed himself for us." Callie said softly. "The only unguarded way out of the complex is through Marion's office, he's the head guy, Frank knocked out the guard outside our room and then pretended to try to escape out the window down the hall from Marion's office. While he did that I snuck upstairs to where Phil and Vanessa were being kept and broke them out. Frank was caught and they took him somewhere else in the building. Marion went with. Once Marion was out of his office Vanessa, Phil, and I snuck out that way." Callie explained unbeknownst to her a single tear slid down her face as her head filled with visions of the various awful ways Marion could be torturing her former boyfriend.

"Frank was able to send us the location of all the bombs." Gray continued carefully ignoring her demand that he free Frank. "The Network has decided that it will be best if we allow Frank to remain in his current location until we have secured all of the bombs, and neutralized the the threat, if we attempt to rescue Frank too soon, we might tip them off and they could either cut their losses and flee or else just blow New York to kingdom come before we have a chance to stop them. I know it's not what you want to hear, but this is really the best solution."

"For everyone else, maybe." Callie replied.

"I'm sorry that you're upset, Miss Shaw, however-"

"She's right. Frank lost a year of his life because of his work with the network, God only knows what is happening to him right now because he sacrificed himself to save his friends, and now you're going to leave him there to sacrifice himself for New York. When does he get to be a priority?" Joe demanded.

"We will save, Frank, I promise you that, but we're just going to have to delay it for a little while longer." Gray replied.

"If anything happens to my brother, I will be holding you personally responsible." The look in Joe's eyes as he said that was such that were Gray a lesser man he would've been cowering in fright, as it was he simply nodded his affirmation.

"What's our next move?" Fenton inquired.

"As we speak member's of the Network's bomb squad in cooperation with the NYPD are moving to the locations of the bombs and working to disarm them, once this task is complete, we will move in on Marion's complex." The network agent replied. "One way or another this will all be over in a few hours."

His words echoed ominously through the air as they settled in for a long and anxious wait until it was time to free Frank.

**A/N I know this was short, but it was a necessary filler. Updates will be occuring every Tuesday in compliance with my new schedule. Review!**


	37. Rescue Missions

**A/N Hello my lovely readers! I have returned with an update for you all. :)**

**Thanks to all Reviewers!**

**Dedication: to kungfukitty2006 for her lovely review! :)**

**Disclaimer: I claim no rights to the characters (other than the evil ones, but who wants them anyway).**

Frank had been left a bleeding mess on the floor of the room, after Marion left a few hours ago. Since then he had slipped in and out of consciousness, the knife still embedded in his leg. His face was badly swollen from being hit with the gun, and he was bruised in several other areas from the beating Marion's underlings had given him after Marion left the first time. The former detective was currently more lucid that he had been for the past while, although he was unable to move much, not that he had any desire to do so given the amount of pain he was experiencing from the stab wound in his leg.

The door to the room opened and Marion entered accompanied by a man Frank had never seen before. "This is Dr. Salino." Marion noted. "He's here to make sure you don't bleed to death before I'm done with you." With those cheerful words Marion stormed out of the room leaving Frank with the doctor.

"You should really try not to anger him." The doctor noted as he dug through his bag of medical supplies in search of the necessary tools.

Frank still mostly out of it from the pain and blood loss did not respond to this suggestion. The doctor moved on to examining his leg and began to curse loudly. "I'm not a miracle worker." Dr. Salino complained. Frank who had finally passed out again did not respond. The doctor left the room in search of Marion to discuss the situation.

"Excuse me, sir?" He said upon reaching the terrorist's office and granted entrance.

"What is it?" Marion demanded.

"I don't think that I can provide Mr. Hardy with the necessary care, with the knife embedded in his leg he needs to have an x-ray done to make sure he's not going to start bleeding to death when it gets taken out, and it may require surgery to remove."

"Pull it out." Marion decided bluntly.

"Excuse me?" Dr. Salino demanded in a shocked tone.

"Pull. The. Fucking. Knife. Out." The terrorist exclaimed through gritted teeth.

**-Story Break-**

"Do you have any news yet?" Callie demanded anxiously of the Network agent who had stepped into the hall to take a phone call.

"They have managed to disarm three of the seven bombs so far." The gray man replied in answer to his question. "It should only be a few more hours."

"Frank could be dead in a few more hours." Joe burst out, saying what everyone else had been thinking. The question of Frank's current state of health was the proverbial elephant in the room.

"I'm sorry." The gray man responded.

"You should be." Joe shot back. "I'm going for a walk." He added rising from his seat and storming out of the apartment, slamming the door shut behind him.

**-Story Break-**

"I can't just pull the knife out." Dr. Salino protested.

"Why not?" Marion asked leaning back in his office chair and glaring at the doctor.

"Because it could very well kill him." He pronounced gravely.

"So?"

"Mr. Marion, I took an oath to do no harm." The doctor exclaimed.

"Let me put it to you this way, either you pull the knife out, or I pull the knife out and put it in you." Marion offered. "The choice is really yours."

"I'll just be going to take that knife out, shall I?" Salino said after paling dramatically.

"I thought you'd feel that way." Marion said smiling benignly at the doctor as he left the room.

**-Story Break-**

"You disgust me." Callie Shaw announced in a shaky voice moments after Joe left the apartment. "Frank already risked his life getting you the information about the bombs, if he had been caught they would have killed him. And, now after he did that you're just leaving him with those people for even longer, because you're worried they will escape if you tip them off or whatever it is you think..."

"Callie-" Mr. Hardy began. She shook her head refusing to let him interrupt her.

"Frank deserves better than this." The blonde said before storming out the door after Joe.

She found him pacing back in forth in front of the apartment building. "I thought you'd be joining me." He said smiling grimly down at her.

"Frank saved me. It's my turn to save him." Callie replied. "Besides, if the Network isn't going to do anything then we'll just do it ourselves."

"Let's go rescue my big brother, shall we?" Joe queried.

"We can take my car." Callie said dangling the keys in the air.

"Operation Rescue Frank: Officially Commenced." Joe said jubilantly.

**-Story Break-**

Dr. Salino made his way back to the room Frank was being kept in with a decidedly melancholy air. He had consented to work for Marion, or consented as much as any of his employees had truly consented, but he had never agreed to go about making medically-unsound decisions

He knelt beside Frank and proceeded to wrap the wound with a sterile dressing around the knife placing pressure on the area near the wound. He then elevated the effected limb propping it up on a low chair. Frank groaned in pain and Dr. Salino felt a pang of remorse for what he was going to have to do on pain of death,

He gripped the handle of the knife with one hand and placed his other hand on Frank's leg to stabilize himself as he prepared to pull out the knife.

**A/N Review! Sorry that the update is late. :(**  
**Yesterday was my birthday and I was having a family party so I didn't get the chance to write the chapter. Update should be next Tuesday. :)**


	38. Callie's Plan

**A/N I know this is late, I'm sorry everyone, but I am on vacation which has caused significant delays.**

**Thanks to all Reviewers!**

**Dedication: To whitetigers for her review. :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

They had parked the car down a side street directly across from Marion's complex, close enough for them to reach to make a quick escape, but far enough that it wouldn't be noticeable. Callie and Joe were currently sitting in the car planning their next move.

"It seemed much easier back at your apartment." Callie admitted.

"It usually does." Joe replied dryly.

"The only way in or out that won't trigger an alarm is through Marion's office, however if Marion's in his office, which he probably is there is no way we will be able to get in that way." Callie explained.

"What we need is a distraction," Joe mused, frowning when he saw the look on the other blonde's face. "No. No. No. Definitely not."

"I could distract him..." She said even as Joe began to protest vehemently.

"And, then you'll end up kidnapped and we'll have to rescue you."

"Well, do you have a better suggestion?" Callie demanded.

"Well...no. But-"

"Then why can't we just do this my way? It doesn't even have to be that dangerous...I can throw a rock through a window a few hallways down from his office, the alarms will start going off, and then you'll have maybe three minutes or so to get upstairs to Frank, he's on the fourth floor."

"This is a terrible plan." Joe said bluntly. "And, if I were anyone except me, I would tell you how we're both going to end up captured, how it's never going to work, and how it's impulsive, irresponsible, and we should really just sit back and wait for the professionals..."

"But?" Callie asked a slow smile spreading across her face.

"But, I am Joe _Freaking_ Hardy, and impulsive and irresponsible is what I do best." Joe replied the smile on his face matching her own. "Let's go, I have a brother to save."

**-Story Break-**

"Joe and Callie have been gone for awhile; maybe we should go after them." Vanessa ventured.

"I am sure that they will return soon." Arthur Gray replied. "And, in the meantime it might be preferable that we allow them to cool off, before we are able to go and retrieve Frank."

"I guess." Vanessa said doubtfully. She knew her former boyfriend and her best friend, and she knew that they were both impulsive, stubborn, and inclined to take risks, especially when it cam eto someone they cared about, and this wasn't just anyone this was Frank.

"My most recent information tells me that five of the seven bombs have been successfully disabled, so we will be able to surround the compound soon." Gray concluded.

-Story Break-

Joe was currently crouched in Marion's closet waiting for the telltale alarm to start ringing. He didn't have to wait long, the distant ring of an alarm sounded from the other end of the compound and he heard Marion curse and exit the room shutting the door with a decisive click behind him. Joe waited a minute before exiting the room sprinting down the hallway and up the stairs to the fourth floor. He had thought that he would have trouble finding where his brother was, as it turned out it was rather easy, as the screams of pain rapidly informed him of the correct room.

"What the fuck are you doing to him?" Joe demanded bursting into the room and finding a man gripping a knife and attempting to pull it out of his brother's leg.

Salino had attempted to pull the knife out and had managed to move it a little, but it was deeply wedged in Frank's leg and he had not been able to get it all the way out, he had succeeded in causing more bleeding however.

"Removing the knife, as Mr. Marion requested." The doctor replied.

"Look, I don't want to have to hurt you as it will take time and energy that I don't have, so what's say you just let me take my brother and leave?" Joe asked hopefully. Something about the way the shorter man's hands were shaking, and the pale look on his face told Joe that he didn't really want to be a part of this.

"He'll kill me."

"I'll bring you with us." Joe said impulsively. He wasn't sure if this was a trap or not, but he didn't have time to quibble about the details.

"How did you even get in here?"

"Through Marion's office. I had a distraction." Joe said curtly.

"He'll have discovered that it was nothing by now, and returned to his office, you're not going to be able to get out that way again."

"Then what do you suggest?" Joe demanded. "And make it fast, because my brother is not in the best shape." Despite his relatively calm tone, Joe was beginning to panic as he looked down at his brother who was fading in and out of consciousness.

"There's another exit, Marion has one on every floor, in case he has to make a quick getaway, follow me." Salino said.

Joe managed to pick up his brother, who was actually quite light after a year in captivity and carry him out of the room. They had opened the door only a crack at first to make sure the hallway was empty. Finding the hall to be deserted, Joe followed Salino down the hall to stop at a door, there was a keypad that demanded a pass-code, which Salino typed in, causing the door to open and reveal another stair well.

"I heard him tell it to one of his guards once." Salino explained, leading the way down the stairs. They headed down the four flights of stairs and came to a door which led to the outside, it opened without setting off any alarms and they were able to make their way swiftly to where Callie was waiting with the car. It was almost too easy...

** A/N Review, update next Tuesday!**


	39. Marion is Not Pleased

**A/N So this update is brought to you by me writing the names of the stories I am behind on updating on slips of papers, chucking them into a canister shaking it up and down and extracting the pieces of paper one by one to determine update order. This story was number one. :P**

**Thanks to all Reviewers!**

**Dedication: To urbiggestfan my newest reviewer. Thanks for reading! :D**

**Disclaimer: I own nada.**

"I just got off the phone with the last of the agents I sent to disable the bombs." Gray announced. "Each of the bombs has been successfully disarmed, and we can now move in on Marion's compound and save Frank."

"About freaking time." Biff muttered drawing nods of assent from the majority of the non-Network affiliated people in the room.

Gray chose to ignore that. "Now, I think it would be for the best that you all remain here while we move in and get Frank-"

"No." Fenton said flatly.

"Excuse me?" Gray questioned although he looked vaguely resigned, he had rather doubted that Fenton would acquiesce to twiddling his thumbs while his son was in danger.

"I think I've failed my children quite enough in the past year, and if it's all the same to you, I have no intention of waiting here while you rescue Frank. Honestly, you're lucky that I didn't go charging after him right away instead of waiting for you to disable the bombs." Fenton noted. "Although, you could try to stop me and have me wait approximately five minutes after you've left to go after Frank myself."

"I could leave a agent here to make sure you all stay put." Gray pointed out.

Fenton bestowed a pitying look on the Gray man. "Do you really think that would work?"

Arthur Gray eyed the private investigator speculatively for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders and started to agree when the sound of Vanessa's ring-tone cut through the room.

"Hold that thought," She suggested as she looked down at her cell to find Callie's name on the display. "Hello, Callie? Where are you guys? We're about to move in to rescue Frank."

"Been there, done that." Callie replied.

"What?" Vanessa asked incredulously.

"Joe and I are currently in my car headed to the hospital having retrieved Frank from Marion." Callie repeated. "Could you tell the Network agents that they may want to move in on Marion now before he realizes that Frank is gone and escapes?"

"Uh-yeah, sure." Vanessa replied momentarily stunned.

"Also, Joe wants you to relay a message for him."

"What is it?"

"He wants you to tell the Gray man, quote 'I told you so' unquote."

Vanessa looked dubiously at the leader of the Network agents. "Uh. Okay. I guess." She blinked several times trying to comprehend how Joe and Callie had managed to break Frank out of a terrorist stronghold when trained government agents were not fully certain they could handle it. "Is Frank okay?" She asked.

There was a pause on the line and when Callie spoke again her voice seemed to be shaking slightly. "There's a lot of blood." Callie said quietly. "You guys will want to get here as soon as possible." She paused again. "I have to go. We're here now. Bye."

The call ended with a decisive click.

"What's going on?" Tony demanded for everyone as the group had been only able to make out Vanessa's half of the conversation.

"Callie and Frank didn't go for a walk." Vanessa announced. "They broke Frank out."

"What?" Gray demanded. "Are you telling me that those two just waltzed into Marion's headquarters and exited with Frank."

"Well, I don't think they exactly waltzed in." Vanessa said helpfully.

The Gray man shot her a withering look.

"Callie says you should probably go capture Marion before he manages to escape or realizes Frank is gone." Vanessa said completely unfazed by his glare. "And, Joe says I told you so." Normally, she'd have some qualms about speaking to government agents that way but this one had almost gotten Frank killed.

"I still don't understand how this happened, but that will have to wait." Gray said rising from his chair. "My agents and I will go round up Marion and his associates, now that your son has been rescued, Fenton, I really think you should stay out of this."

"Fine." Fenton replied.

"Fine?" Gray asked. "I was certain it would take a lot more to convince you."

"Normally it would, but I need to make sure that my sons are alright." Fenton answered in a tone that implied that it should have been obvious.

"Well, good then." Gray replied. "Let's move out then." He said to his agents leading them out of Joe's apartment.

"Where are they?" Fenton turned to Vanessa once the agents had disappeared.

"The hospital," Vanessa replied. "Callie says we should get there right away." She added hesitantly.

"How bad is it?" The private investigator asked quietly. In all the years those gathered in the room had known Frank and Joe's dad they had never seen him look so worried or so exhausted.

"I don't know." Vanessa admitted. "Callie said that there was a lot of blood, and that we should hurry and then she hung up."

"We better get moving then, hadn't we?" Fenton agreed leading the way out of the apartment towards the waiting cars.

**-Story Break-**

"Boss, we have a bit of a problem." Jacob Gustafson announced walking into Marion's office. The terrorist narrowed his eyes at his second-in-command.

"What is it?"

"It seems that Frank Hardy has escaped."

"What?" Marion asked incredulously. "You'll need to repeat that, it sounded a lot like you said Frank Hardy managed to escape, but I know for a fact that Mr. Hardy is currently suffering from an incredible lose of blood due to a knife embedded in his leg, as well as possibly broken ribs, a head injury, and maybe even internal bleeding. There is no way he made it out of here."

"Well, he's not in the room. And for that matter, neither is Dr. Salino."

"Are you telling me that the doctor has defected from my side and broken Frank Hardy out?"

"Well, no." Gustafson replied.

"What are you saying then?"

"Our security cameras picked up Joe Hardy leaving in the company of Dr. Salino and his brother." Gustafson managed not to wince at the angry look on his boss' face. "Also, you know how the window broke earlier? Yeah, our camera's picked up Callie Shaw as well."

"You're telling me that Joe Hardy and Callie Shaw managed to break into my compound despite the best security money can buy and exit with Frank Hardy who was supposed to be well guarded and half-dead?"

"Well, he was unconscious at the time." Gustafson said as though that somehow improved the situation.

"I see." Marion's town was vaguely ominous.

"And, the Network will probably be swooping down at any moment, so we're going to want to evacuate." Gustafson added.

"Fan-fucking-tastic." Marion noted. "Get the lower-downs in my office destroying everything, we can't leave anything for the government to find." He ordered.

"Got it." Gustafson nodded immediately. "What are you going to do?"

"I?" Marion questioned. "I am going to put an end to a pair of troubling pests who I should have destroyed years ago..."

**A/N This will be updated as scheduled next Tuesday give or take a few days depending on my level of laziness at the time...**

**Haha, review, because reviews as you may or may not know are the cure for laziness. :D**


	40. Waiting Rooms

**A/N I know this is late, it's lateness brought about by a combination of me being unsure of how to start it and spending hours shut up in my room avoiding my mother who was angry at my sisters and I. Fortunately, I stay up later than her giving me time to write this. :P**

**Thanks to all Reviewers!**

**Dedication: to whitetigers for her lovely review. :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nada. ;)**

Joe Hardy had spent a lot of time in hospitals in his twenty-two years, fortunately or unfortunately a lot of that time he had been unconscious and thus largely oblivious to the horrors of an E.R. waiting room. He could not presently imagine a worse place to be than seated in the hard plastic chairs, surrounded by his friends and his father, and yet at the same time still completely alone. He had always found it strange how it was possible to be in the midst of dozens of people and still feel truly, and utterly alone.

Of course, Joe mused, he'd grown rather used to being alone in the last year. He was currently seated in between his father and his brother's ex-girlfriend (though he did wonder if Callie could really be considered an ex-girlfriend when she and Frank had never actually broken up), both of whom were completely silent. Callie had curled in on herself, drawing her knees up under her chin and staring blankly into space, likely picturing scenes from a different time and place.

His father's hands were tightly clenching the arm-rests and his eyes were glued to the floor, evidently fascinated by his shoes. Or at least that was the impression a bystander would get. Joe, however, knew better than that. His father was brooding over something, probably about his self-perceived failures with his sons. Joe didn't consider his father to be a failure by any stretch, Fenton Hardy had made mistakes to be sure, especially with his treatment of Joe after his brother seemed to be dead, but grief did strange things to people, tore them apart and made them do things they never would have done otherwise.

His own ex-girlfriend, (an actual ex in his case as he had actually broken up with her prior to fleeing his former life, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars), was seated on Callie's other side. She had tried to engage both of them in conversation several times since their arrival, but both Joe and Callie had preferred to brood over their separate worries. Vanessa had eventually given up and was conversing quietly with Phil who was seated across from her.

They had been waiting for two hours already and had not heard anything since. Frank had been rushed away for surgery, and the doctors finding Joe to be a family member had asked him to give his consent for it, since Frank was currently completely out of it. After that the nurses had handed Joe a stack of insurance forms to fill out, which he had given up as a bad job, considering he was fairly certain that being considered dead probably meant that Frank no longer had health insurance.

Joe had reached the conclusion that he definitely preferred being the injured one to the nerve-wracking wait to find out information. He wondered what that said about him.

Further musings in this vein were cut short by the arrival of a doctor, chart in hand, scanning the various groups gathered in the waiting room. "Frank Hardy?" He called out.

Joe was vaguely aware of his father calling out an answering reply. The entire group immediately perked up at his arrival giving the doctor their unabated attention.

"Frank is currently still in surgery, removing the knife is proving to be rather difficult," The doctor, who had introduced himself as Dr. Parker, began. "The knife has managed to knick the femoral artery, removing it could cause him to bleed out, we are currently working on doing so a little at a time; we are giving him blood transfusions to help with the blood loss." He continued bluntly. "It's touch and go, but we're doing everything we can to help him."

He waited for this to sink in and was met by eight horror-stricken faces, none of them having fully grasped the extent of the damage until then.

"Do you have any questions before I get back in there?"

"No, that's all, thank you." Fenton managed in a strained voice. Dr. Parker left with one more assurance that they would do everything they could for Frank.

Joe felt like he had been punched in the gut, his breath exploded out of his lungs with an audible whoosh. He heard an audible sob from his right and new that Callie was crying without looking. He could see a few tears slide down his fathers face and land on his pants in a steady drip, although his father continued to stare down at his shoes as though expecting they would reveal the answers to life's most difficult questions.

Vanessa looked as though she had been slapped; Phil had lost at least three shades of color. Tony was muttering words in Italian that Joe couldn't understand but knew to be curse words. Chet was hunched over and appeared to be praying. Biff was staring up at the ceiling, evidently having decided that the floor didn't seem to be revealing any answer's to Fenton, so maybe the ceiling was the way to go.

Joe was almost tempted to laugh at the shear irony of the situation, the ludicrousness of finding out that his brother was alive only to have him at death's door again.

He remembered reading once that brothers "...may be the keeper of one's identity, the only person with the keys to one's unfettered, more fundamental self." Joe knew this was the case for himself and Frank knew with the sort of absolute certainty that came along once in a lifetime. And, Joe also knew with every fiber of his being that if Frank died, Joe would die along with him.

Torn between anger and grief, Joe decided that Chet probably had the best idea and decided to give prayer a shot. He hadn't prayed much at all in the past year, didn't really see the point, after Frank had appeared dead and besides that he couldn't bring himself to find much to be thankful for or want to protect after that. He hoped God could forgive him for that. He guessed it was true what they say about people not really bothering with prayer until they had something to pray for. Joe swore up and down that if his brother could only be saved he'd go to church every Sunday, pray every night, help the poor, donate to the church, anything at all, if only Frank would not die.

**A/N Review! At some point in the next few days (possibly tommorow), my new laptop will arrive (it's pink!) which will provide me with the ability to update whenever I want because I won't have to share anymore. :P **


	41. Bedside Conversations

**A/N Hello, everyone, sorry for the lateness of this update, I haven't been in much of an updating mood. :P**

**Thanks to all Reviewers!**

**Dedication: To Cheryl for her lovely review. :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nada. ;)**

No one could bleed that much and survive, Joe thought as he looked at his brother's pale face, which appeared to be competing with the bed-sheets in their quest to achieve the greatest pallor. He held his brother's hand tightly, (the only part of him that didn't seem to be injured), and wondered what he would do if Frank didn't survive this.

His heart had stopped twice on the operating table, and the doctors had professed amazement that he had made it through the surgery.

Frank had made it through only to be placed in the intensive care unit subject to frequent monitoring and severe restrictions. He was only allowed to have one visitor at a time; Joe had been allowed to go first without protest.

And, now that he found himself seated in the uncomfortable wooden chair staring at his ominously still brother, Joe almost preferred not to have gone first. Almost. Not really though, Joe knew that he would be insane with worry if he had not gotten to see Frank as soon as possible.

He wondered if there was truth to the adage that unconscious people could sometimes hear their family members if they spoke to them. Joe decided it was worth looking silly if it would help his brother.

"Hey, Frank." He cleared his throat as he began. "I don't know if you can hear me or not, but I'll keep talking anyway, for that matter, when have you ever known me to be quiet anyway?" Joe paused here expecting his brother to laugh or make a sarcastic remark as he would have if he were awake…if he weren't battling death. "You can't die, Frank, you saw what a mess I am, I can honestly say that without you our entire family pretty much caves in. I've already lost you once, I can't lose you again." Joe whispered into the silent room. "Not again."

**-Story Break-**

"Hello, son." Fenton Hardy began gruffly. "I want you to know that I'm sorry, sorry I thought you were dead, sorry for how I treated your brother."

He inhaled shakily.

"It's been hard without you, our family can't go on without all its members, so don't go leaving us now, Frank, I won't stand for it." He continued sternly. "Don't die on us."

Unnoticed a single tear slid down his face.

"I called your mother, she's on her way here, she should be here in a few hours." He added. "Your aunt has been sick recently…you didn't need to know that, I'm not that good at this, am I?" He mumbled under his breath. "You can't check out of this life, Frank, I know that you can fight this, I know that you can come back to us, you can be just as stubborn as the rest of us when you want to be, so prove it now and _live_."

**-Story Break-**

"Hi, Frank." Callie greeted the silent figure with a watery smile. As she took in his battered form a sob broke forth and she swiped fiercely at the tears that slid down her face. "You don't need to be the hero all the time you know." She said angrily.

"I can't be the reason you die." She whispered quietly visibly deflating. "Don't ask me to be, I can't handle it, Frank." She closed her eyes tightly. "I can't do it." She repeated.

He remained silent, eerily still; she would have thought him to be dead if not for the steady beep of the monitors attached to him.

"I still love you, Frank Hardy." She murmured. "I fucking love you, and you are not allowed to check out, so wake up, be okay." She pleaded.

If Frank had been awake he would have laughed, laughed at how stubborn and determined she was, how certain that she could cure him on sheer will power. He had always secretly loved that about her.

"Come back to me."

**-Story Break-**

"It's been awhile," Tony noted as he gazed at the silent form of his friend. "I could never quite bring myself to believe it when they told me you were dead, I thought 'no way could Frank Hardy let himself be killed like that, no way in hell.' You couldn't die then, and you can't do it now either, Frank." The Italian continued earnestly.

"Don't make me wrong," Tony requested. "I know that you can fight this, a stab wound should be nothing for you; you can come back from this, come back from this and return home, I know you can. You just have to want to. Do it for us, for your friends and your family, we can't be without you, Frank. When one of us is gone, the rest of us go with them."

"Fight this, Frank."

**-Story Break-**

"I've never been good at this," Vanessa noted. "I've never really known what to say in a situation like this, what _do_ you say?" She asked the silent figure.

"Do I tell you to come back to us? Do I tell you that without you our lives are a hell of a lot less full?" She continued. "Because, all of those things are true, every single one, but I know that you have to want to come back to us, Frank, you have to fight for it, and I hope you will."

"You have to choose to live."

**-Story Break-**

"I know what it's like to lose a sibling," Chet stated into the silent room. "It's not fun, Frank, it feels like you've been socked in the gut, like your world has been turned upside down, because suddenly the person who has been there your entire life is suddenly gone, the person you knew as well if not better than yourself is no longer there to listen. Joe lost you once; don't make him lose you again." He continued.

"I would give anything to have a second chance with Iola. _Anything. _You have a chance to come back, Frank, _take it_." Chet exclaimed. "And, besides that, you have always been like a brother to me, and I don't want to lose you either."

"Don't let us lose you."

**-Story Break-**

Biff preferred leaning against the wall to sitting in the rickety looking wooden chair. He stared down at his friend from his vantage point. "I remember how we used to joke all the time about the number of scrapes you and Joe got into, how no matter what you seemed to get out alive. We always said that you guys seemed to have the devil's own luck." Biff recalled.

"And yet here we are," He mused. "I never thought I would see this day, Frank, and I never wanted to. I've known you for most of our lives, and I know that you can get out of this, I know you can." Biff said firmly.

"Just roll the dice one more time, I know you'll win."

**-Story Break-**

"You were my first friend when my family moved to Bayport." Phil informed the silent figure. "When we came here I thought I would never meet anyone who would want to be my friend, I was so sure of it, but then you came along and suddenly I had a whole set of new friends."

Phil paused as though expecting Frank to answer him. He didn't. "I don't know if you can hear me or not, but I'll keep talking anyway. We need you, Frank, and you need to live, you don't want to die like this; I know you don't. So don't die like this. Like most things, living is a decision."

"Decide to live."

**A/N Review! Update next Tuesday!**


	42. Gray's Report

**A/N Hello, everyone, I apologize for my failure to update last week but I was in a very un-update oriented mood. **

**Thanks to all reviewers!**

**Dedication: To Leilani my newest reader. :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nada. ;)**

"I have news," Arthur Gray announced walking over to the group of Hardys and their friends. He was flanked by two Network agents.

The entire group looked up at his approach. They were all once more gathered in the waiting room, they had been kicked out of Frank's room by his doctor in order for him to do some post-operative checks.

"Did you catch them?" Joe was the first to jump in and ask for further information.

Gray hesitated, it was just a fraction of a second, and almost unnoticeable, but Joe noticed it, and he knew that it boded ill for whatever the Network agent planned to say next.

"Mostly." Gray answered.

"What do you mean by mostly?" Callie demanded.

"Jonathon Marion escaped." Gray admitted. "We rounded up the rest of the men at the compound, including his second in command Gustafson, but Marion was nowhere to be found."

"Son of a bitch." Fenton swore harshly.

"How could you lose him?" Tony demanded.

"He is one of the most sought after terrorists in the world; he is hardly easy to catch." Gray said sounding affronted.

"I thought you people were supposed to be good." Callie said derisively.

"Apparently not." Biff remarked.

Gray closed his eyes for a few moments seemingly attempting to summon what vestiges of patience he possessed.

"We are," He answered.

"Then where is Marion?" Vanessa countered.

"Look, this is just a _temporary_ setback." Gray stressed. "We have a huge portion of his organization in custody, and are subjecting them to interrogation as we speak, it is only a matter of time before one or more of them cracks and tells us what we need to know."

"By then Marion could be halfway to Mexico." Joe said with a scowl.

"Look, we're very sorry about this."

Joe didn't really think Gray was really all that sorry, except as it related to his job.

"But, yelling at me isn't going to accomplish anything."

"Oh, really?" Callie asked rising from her seat and stalking over to him. She jabbed the Network agent in the chest with her index finger. "Find. Marion." She ordered through clenched teeth.

Gray's junior agents looked uncertainly from the short blonde woman to their boss clearly unsure as to whether they should stop her or not. Gray who had his eyes fixed on Callie did not offer them a response one way or another.

"I can promise you that if you don't manage to find him you will regret it." Callie said with a huff of anger before stalking off in the general direction of Frank's room. She would park herself outside the door and wait until the doctor was done if she had to.

"I'm needed at the interrogations." Gray offered seeming somewhat shaken after Callie had disappeared. "I promise we will do everything we can to find Marion." He added somewhat uselessly.

"You had better." Fenton remarked. "I'm not going to have my children harmed further by their involvement with your agency."

"Understood." Gray said curtly. "I will have security posted near Frank's room, I doubt it will be necessary, but…just in case."

"You do that." Fenton said coolly staring after the retreating backs of the Network agents as they headed towards the bank of elevators.

* * *

Callie arrived just as the various medical personnel were exiting Frank's room. They smiled sympathetically at her, and the nurse told her that she could go in.

"Hi, again." She greeted the unconscious figure on the bed.

Unlike last time she did not sit down. She was too wound up to sit. Instead she paced back and forth in front of the bed.

"Is it just me or do federal agencies seem to be staggeringly incompetent?" She wondered aloud as she pivoted on her heel and made her way to the other end of the room. "It's no wonder you guys always wanted to be private detectives instead of working for a government agency or the police." The blonde continued.

She paused in her pacing to peer at the figure on the bed. "I worry about you, you know." She whispered. "I always have, running about and getting in to all of those dangerous situations, how could I not?"

She resumed her pacing. "I don't know about you, but I think it's about time for you to wake up, you've got the rest of your life to sleep, now is not the time." She said sternly.

When Frank continued in the realms of unconsciousness she spoke up again. "Apparently you don't agree." Callie noted. "You should." She added sternly.

Frank did not stir.

Callie did hear a half-hearted laugh from the direction of the door however and she spun around to find Joe leaning in the doorway.

"He's not listening to me." She noted.

"He is quite stubborn." Joe agreed. "I think the Gray Man is afraid of you." He added.

Callie snorted. "Good."

Joe grinned fondly at her. "Nice work with that by the way."

"Thank you." Callie said with a brief answering smile. "You can sit with him now." She offered. "I was going to go get some coffee, and see if the others wanted anything. Speaking of which, could I get you something? Tea? Coffee? Water? Food of some sort?"

Joe shook his head in negation. "Nah, I'm fine." He said voicing his opinion in addition to the gesture. "I don't think I could manage to keep anything down as freaked out as I am." He admitted.

"I need to have something to do." Callie said quietly. "Even getting drink orders for everyone is better than sitting in the waiting room ready to tear my hair out in worry."

"I imagine it would be." Joe agreed.

"I'll just leave you alone with him, shall I?" Callie said and without waiting for a response, she slipped past him out the door and headed back towards the waiting room on her quest to keep busy.

**A/N Review! Update will occur next Tuesday!**


	43. New Arrivals

**A/N Hello, everyone! Huge apologies for the lateness of this update but things have been crazy and I have been slightly stuck. I am back now though. :)**

**Thanks to all Reviewers!**

**Dedication: To Cheryl for her lovely review.**

**Disclaimer: I own nada. ;)**

_I bear a little more than I can bear. ~Elinor Hoyt Wylie_

"Where is he?" Laura Hardy demanded upon strolling through the E.R. doors accompanied by Gertrude Hardy. Both women looked rather the worse for wear between Gertrude having been sick and both having been frantic with worry over Frank and Joe.

"I didn't think you were going to come with, Gertrude." Fenton said in an attempt to delicately express his concern for his sister's health.

"I'm not on my deathbed yet, Fenton." Gertrude replied some of her old bite returning to her voice and demeanor for the first time in the past year. Fenton found himself actually pleased by the return of his sister's unyielding attitude, something he never thought he would actually miss were it to disappear.

"I wasn't implying that you were." Fenton hastened to assure his older sister. "I was only-"

"Where is Frank?" Laura repeated interrupting her husband's attempts to explain himself to his sister in favor of seeing her son as soon as possible.

"Right, sorry." Fenton said hastening to explain Frank's location to his wife. Laura nodded in response and disappeared in the direction of the ICU to find her son.

Laura hovered outside the door to Frank's room preparing herself for what she might see inside. She pushed lightly on the door which was already partially opened.

Her eyes focused on the two figures in the room, the blond asleep in a chair, the brunet was still, so still that he would have appeared dead if not for the slight rise and fall of his chest. She felt as if she were in a dream, as though if she reached out to touch them they would disappear, completely and irrevocably gone from her life.

A mother should never have to outlive her children.

She quietly made her way into the room, closing the door gently behind her. Neither figure stirred. Laura approached the chair first, and rested her hand lightly on her youngest son's cheek. His disappearance so soon after his brother's apparent death had almost been more than she could bear.

Joe shifted slightly in his sleep but didn't wake up. Laura made her way over to the bed and reached down to grip Frank's hand tightly in her own. "I always worried about you two off trying to save the world, but I never thought for a moment that you would actually die. I never tried to stop you from going off to fight the bad guys, but sometimes I wonder if I should have. I never did, because I thought doing so would take away a fundamental part of who you are, who Joe is. I can't lose you though, Frank, I just got you back, and I'm not willing to give you up again. I know that in some part of you can hear me, and I want you to know that when you are ready to wake up I will be here waiting for you, we all will."

Frank's hand tightened ever so slightly around his mother's. Laura would have thought it to be wishful thinking if the monitor showing his heart rate had not increased it's beeping as he did so. Her eyes focused intensely on his face willing him to open his eyes and come back to her. His eyes remained closed, his face still. It seemed that he was not ready to rejoin their company yet.

But Joe was.

"Mom?" Joe called uncertainly getting up out of the chair.

"Joe," Laura breathed, crossing the few feet that separated them and pulling her youngest child into a hug. "I've missed you, sweetie." She murmured hugging him tightly.

"I've missed you, too." Joe's breath caught in his chest and a strangled sound that might have been a sob tore from his throat.

"Shh," Laura whispered. "We will be okay, your brother will be okay, everything will be fine." She promised firmly.

She found that consoling Joe was the first real comfort she had experienced in the past year.

"I can't lose him." Joe whispered to his mother. "He's my best friend."

"You won't." Laura swore, something inside her told her that her son would survive this, she knew her children, knew ever stubborn bone in their bodies, and she knew that Frank would not give up so easily.

"Thanks, mom." Joe said quietly pulling back.

"Anytime." Laura replied warmly. "I've missed having children to take care of." She admitted.

"I'm sorry." Joe muttered looking away.

"Don't be." His mother replied with a frown. "None of this was your fault, so don't go thinking it was."

"I didn't stop Frank from going onto the cliff, he was upset and I knew better. And after that I ran away. It _is_ my fault." Joe insisted.

"Look at me," Laura ordered softly. Joe's blue eyes locked with his mother's almost identical ones. "You didn't do anything wrong, Joe, you were grieving we all were, and you had to deal with that in your own way even if it meant leaving. I didn't like it, but I understood, Joe, I understood. And, as for your brother getting hurt the only person responsible for that is the man who decided to arrange the entire thing. When someone chooses to harm another person they are responsible for their own actions. You bear no responsibility for that." She continued firmly. "Do not blame yourself."

"It's hard not to." Joe said quietly.

"You're too hard on yourself," Laura replied. "You may not see that now, but eventually you will see that this was all beyond your control, beyond your ability to fix. No one blames you, Joe. It's time you stopped blaming yourself." She concluded. "I need to go speak with your father; I will leave you to keep your brother company."

Laura disappeared through the door, shutting it quietly behind her.

"Thanks, mom." Joe whispered to the silent room as he sunk into the chair next to his brother's bed and resumed his vigil.

**A/N Review! Update shall be next Tuesday. Frank may even wake up, you never know. ;)**


	44. Escape is Not Easy

**A/N Hello, my lovely readers, I apologize for the long wait, however I started college this fall and as it turns out college is actually a million times harder than high school. So, yeah, I've had zero time to update. But now that I am on break I am taking advantage of the time to update. This story is nearing its conclusion and I will try to reach it in a timely fashion, so that you do not have to endure months of waiting. **

**Thanks to all Reviewers!**

**Dedication: To pinkdice16 thanks for your lovely review. :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nada. ;)**

Frank had woken up three days ago, and after the rush of happiness of seeing his parents, and his Aunt, and all of his friends, and the gradual fading of the more severe portion of his pain, he had reached the traditional state of mind of a Hardy in the hospital: boredom.

The doctors were refusing to let him go home, citing ridiculous reasons like: he had almost died, he'd been kidnapped for a year, he couldn't get around on his own, etc., in order to avoid releasing him. This, if you asked Frank was a load of rubbish. Fortunately, for his continuing physical health, no one in his family saw fit to ask Frank.

Instead his parents spent their time acting like he wasn't actually an adult of twenty-two years, and conducted conversations with the doctor as though he weren't even present in the room. He could appreciate their concern and all but _still_.

After losing a year of his life, the last thing he was really interested in was spending more time cooped up, even if it was in a hospital as opposed to various terrorist holdings. Plus, there was just the whole issue of everyone being really, hugely awkward. His father and Joe despite having made some progress toward resolving their issues still barely spoke more than a few stilted sentences to each other, Vanessa and Joe were involved in some complicated dance of 'do I love you or don't I?' and he was still facing the question of what exactly was there between him and Callie.

Frank knew what he wanted there to be between him and his former girlfriend, but despite that kiss they had shared he couldn't be certain that she wanted the same thing. For all he knew she had moved on with her life, and the kiss had been the product of just joy over knowing that he was alive, but as a friend, and not in a romantic way.

And, then there was still the whole issue of Jonathan Marion wandering around somewhere. The Network was convinced that he had fled the country by now, or at the very least the state of New York, but something told Frank that the man was lurking about just waiting for the opportunity to take revenge.

He had been alone for the past hour, which was a rarity so far over the course of his hospital stay, as his family and friends seemed to fear that if he was out of their sight for more than thirty seconds at a time he would disappear, not that the belief was totally unjustified, but it was a little frustrating at times. Now that he had regained consciousness some of the people who had crowded the hospital waiting room had returned to Bayport, specifically, Phil, Tony, and Chet had all been forced to leave. Phil and Vanessa's boss couldn't spare both of them, and so Phil had volunteered to return in order to allow Vanessa to remain with Joe. Tony had received several increasingly dire calls from the assistant manager at Mr. Pizza, and Frank had finally told his friend that he would be fine, and that he should get back to work. Chet was needed to run the farm, and Frank hadn't thought it fair to keep his friend from his wife for much longer. Biff had been allowed to stay, most likely because his boss and the other channel seven newscasters were hoping that Frank would grant them an interview.

Callie had positively bristled at the suggestion that she should leave, and had informed Frank coolly, that unless he wanted a new injury to add to his collection he stop trying to send her back home. He had at least given up on that, but after badgering her and Joe, both of whom had been up for days with little to no sleep, managed to convince them to go sleep for a couple of hours in the hotel that they were all staying in. His father was currently going over possible leads on Marion's whereabouts with the Network, which left Laura and Biff to keep Frank company for the time being, although Frank was sure that Callie and Joe would be back any minute now.

His mother and Biff had gone to get lunch in the cafeteria, after being assured by Frank that he would be fine, and that he wanted to take a nap anyway, which he had a hard time doing when there were people staring at him.

He was expecting them to be back at any moment, which is why he didn't even look up from the magazine he had been idly flipping through when the door opened. "How was lunch?" He asked absently.

"It was excellent, thank you." The voice was cold, but it had an element of amusement to it, but one thing was clear it was certainly not the voice of Laura Hardy. The magazine slipped from his fingers. Frank slowly reached for the call button. "Ah, ah, ah," Marion cautioned. "It would be a shame if I had to use this one you," He gestured with the handgun he was clutching. "Wouldn't want to see you die before your time, which I can assure you is arriving rapidly."

"Fuck you." Frank spat.

"It's clear you haven't acquired any manners in the past several days, but what was I to expect." Marion strode over to the bed, and proceeded to forcibly detach the various monitors Frank was still hooked up to. "We're going to take a bit of a stroll," He explained ignoring Frank's wince of pain as he pulled out the IV.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Frank replied.

"I thought you might feel that way," Marion agreed. "Fortunately, this is a pretty simple dilemma, you can shut your trap and come with me, or I can end your worthless life, right here, right now. Take your pick."

"Fine," Frank agreed. "But I can't walk, so…"

"Not a problem," Marion said blandly, demonstrating by hauling Frank out of the hospital bed with surprising strength. Frank's bad leg almost collapsed underneath him, and he would have fallen to the ground had he not been held up by the terrorist. "Let's go shall we?" Marion inquired pleasantly, beginning to drag Frank toward the door.

He must have missed the stubborn look that flashed through Frank's eyes, because he seemed surprised a second later, when the former detective went limp in his hold, pulling down hard on the arm holding the gun.

The weapon discharged with a noise that resonated through the room, and two bodies fell to the ground with a loud thump.

**A/N Review quickly, and I shall update quickly, and you will not have to be held in suspense for long. **


	45. And so it all falls back into place

**A/N Hello, everyone, I apologize for the long wait, but I have returned with the final installment of I Used to Know Him.**

**Thanks to all Reviewers!**

**Dedication: To Steffi Hoffman for her lovely review. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

Frank grunted in pain, as his injured leg loudly protested the treatment it had been given. The gun had misfired, but Frank had been able to wrestle the weapon away from Marion and was currently holding the other man at gunpoint.

"Shoot me," Marion spoke almost lazily, eyeing the gun Frank had leveled on him. "Do it. Or are you to scared?"

"Don't tempt me." Frank ground out.

Marion stood up, and took a step closer to Frank, positively daring Frank to shoot him. "You won't shoot me will, you Frank? You're too much of a goody-goody for that, aren't you?" Marion sneered and took a step forward.

"I would like nothing better to kill you," Frank said coldly. "After everything you did to my family, after everything you did to Callie and Joe, and to me, believe me when I say I would like nothing better than to kill you. But, a bullet is too good for you, you just wait until you're on the receiving end of the five star treatment the U.S. government has for terrorists like you, and then you'll really wished I had killed you," Frank finished.

"If you aren't going to shoot me, I suppose I can just be on my way then right?" Marion asked in tones equally as cold.

"I had a little something else in mind," Frank replied amicably, gesturing toward the door, which burst open, and soon the room was filled with Network agents who immediately hauled Marion away, Frank waved goodbye to his former "employer" with false enthusiasm.

After that several doctors and nurses came in and got Frank settled back in bed. It wasn't until after this that his family who had been alerted to what had happened was allowed back into his room.

It was about an hour after the commotion had all died down that he was finally left alone with Callie.

"I can't turn my back on you for one second," Callie tried for humor but the attempt fell flat, as Frank could see tears prickling along the corners of her eyes.

He reached for her hand and squeezed it tightly. "I'm sorry, Callie." Frank said quietly.

She glared at him fiercely. "Don't be sorry, it's not your fault." Callie said sternly. "Just answer one question and we'll call it even."

"What is it?" Frank asked warily.

"Frank Hardy, will you go out with me? Again." Callie asked cracking a smile.

Frank pretended to consider it for a moment, earning a scowl from Callie.

"Nothing would make me happier." He said with a grin, and then he tugged her face down to his level and captured her lips in a kiss.

-Story Break-

"So when do you go back to Bayport?" Joe asked Vanessa in a somewhat awkward tone. "You probably have a lot to get back to, you know work, and, er, personal stuff, and…"

"Are you asking if I have a boyfriend, Joe Hardy?" Vanessa cut straight to the chase.

Joe flushed bright red. "Um, that is to say, that…"

Vanessa resisted the urge to giggle at the self-proclaimed ladies' man falling all over himself to find out if she was dating someone else. "The answer is no." Vanessa answered.

"Well, then I was wondering, maybe if you want, and I understand if you don't want to after everything that happened, if you don't but-"

"I would love to go out with you, Joe." Vanessa cut in with a grin.

"How do you know I wasn't just asking if you'd like a ride back to Bayport with me?" Joe asked cheekily looking relieved by her answer.

Vanessa raised her eyebrows. "Well, if that's the case I saw a cute doctor back there-"

Joe laughed. He had really missed this. In answer he pulled his former and now current girlfriend towards him for a kiss. "I would love it if you would go out with me." He said when they broke apart.

"Now, that's what I wanted to hear."

_Epilogue-One year Later_

"Have you seen my criminology book, Frank, I can't find it anywhere and I have to finish this report before I go see Van, and-" Joe sounded panicked as he stormed around the apartment he and his brother shared tearing things apart in search of his book.

Callie giggled from her place on the couch next to her boyfriend. She had been helping him "study" for a psychology examination when Joe had begun his rampage.

"Did you check your backpack?" Frank asked in a voice that was equal part exasperation and fondness.

"Of course I checked my backpack, do you think I would be so dumb as not to check my backpack," Even as he was speaking, Joe grabbed his backpack off the chair he had dumped it on and rifled through it. "Oh. It's here." He said sheepishly.

Frank kindly refrained from laughing at his brother at least until he retreated to his bedroom to work on the report before he left for his date with Vanessa.

…And then he and Callie both burst into loud laughter.

Joe stuck his head out the door to his bedroom. "Very funny." He said sarcastically. "Don't forget we're having lunch with Mom and Dad tomorrow."

"I won't." Frank agreed in between laughs. Joe rolled his eyes and went back into his room.

Life was finally returning to normal for the Hardys. Frank and Joe had reenrolled in school and were finishing out their degrees. Vanessa and Joe had settled back into the easy rhythm of their former relationship, and were now closer than ever before. Gertrude was making a full recovery. Fenton and Joe were making steady progress in repairing their relationship. And as for Frank and Callie? Let's just say Frank had a certain special piece of jewelry he planned to present her with this weekend.

**A/N Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed this story over the past several years. I will miss writing it. I hope you enjoyed the ending. **


End file.
